In the current discussion about fees and taxes for import and export of goods to and from the US I have a question about internet services (as kind of virtual goods):
Is it possible that the US raises a fee or taxes for using US based internet services for people not living in the US?
Then there's no more free service1 available for all customers, only for people from the US. People from all other countries would have to pay, when accessing services, data and websites that are hosted in the US or are offered by US companies. Now there are companies, that also operate in other parts of the world and have branches in different locations - maybe that does make a difference. Also a lot of internet based services are available only from US companies with no real competition from other regions of the world – like Google or Stack Exchange.
Or could it be the other way around:
People from the US must pay extra fees to access services provided by other countries, in order to make them more expensive and "to protect" local companies?
Is this something that could be possible – politically and legally2, besides all headwind that this will get from the community?3
1 I know that these companies do have models to create revenue through other things, like data collection, advertising etc., which might decrease in short term but not in the long run.
2 Hopefully not.
3 Hopefully.