Canada’s 3% digital services tax has been a sticking point in its relationship with the US since the law was enacted last year. The first payments are due on Monday.

Business groups estimate it will cost American companies, such as Amazon, Apple and Google, more than $2bn a year. Other countries have a similar tax in place, including the UK, France and Italy.

Canadian officials had said they expected to address the issue as part of trade talks with the US.

There were hopes that the relatively warm relationship that newly elected Carney has forged with Trump might help those negotiations.

The president’s latest move casts doubt on a future deal, though Trump has often used social media threats to try to gain leverage in talks or speed up negotiations he sees as stalling.

Last month, for example, he threatened to ramp up tariffs on goods arriving to US shores from the European Union, only to relent a few days later.

Candace Laing, chief executive of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, which has been critical of the digital services tax, said that “last-minute surprises should be expected” as the deadline for a deal approaches.

“The tone and tenor of talks has improved in recent months, and we hope to see progress continue,” she added.

Canadian Senator Hassan Yussuff, who sits on a Canada-US trade advisory council to Prime Minister Carney, told the Globe and Mail that he believes Trump is trying to gain “leverage” in the talks by putting pressure on Canada.

“I think we don’t react to it,” Yussuff said.

Meanwhile, some in Canada’s business community have called on Carney to scrap the digital services tax. Goldy Hyder, president of the Business Council of Canada, said on Friday that the tax undermines Canada’s relationship with the US, and it should be lifted “to get trade negotiations back on track”.

At the G7 in mid-June, Trump and Carney had set a 30-day deadline for a trade deal to be reached. It is unclear whether Trump’s latest comments have affected that timeline.

During Trump’s first term, the White House fought hard as many countries began considering taxes on digital services.

But Inu Malak, fellow for trade policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, noted that the issue was left unresolved in the trade deal the US and the UK reached earlier this year, suggesting some flexibility.

She said Trump’s threat seemed like a move to ramp up pressure out of his typical negotiating “playbook – but was also a sign the president had refocused on Canada, which could open the way for a deal.

“It does provide a bit of an opening – maybe not the one that Prime Minister Carney wanted… but it does provide some space for them to hasten those talks,” she said.