U.S. targets Brazilian digital payment platform Pix amid trade spat

https://restofworld.org/2025/pix-brazil-us-investigation-digital-payments/

by colinprince • 12 months ago

32 9 12 months ago

Recently Pakistan has introduced a "Digital Proceeds Tax", basically a 5% tax on all online commerce (compared to the 18% sales tax).

The US Chamber of Commerce’s US-Pakistan Business Council (USPBC) sent a letter to Pakistan stating [1]

The proposed tax would be similar to digital services taxes (DSTs) in France and the United Kingdom, which the United States Trade Representative has found to be discriminatory against US companies, inconsistent with established principles of international taxing jurisdiction, and burdensome on US commerce... The act would not only disproportionately harm US companies and American digital exports but also undermine the robust US-Pakistan trading relationship at a critical juncture.

The result of this masked threat is that Pakistan removed the tax for all foreign companies [1].

[1] https://www.dawn.com/news/1927776/digital-proceeds-tax-to-no...

toomuchtodo2• 12 months ago

The play here for Brazil is likely a nationalism story to stoke rejection of US payment systems and Big Tech by consumers. That should poison the well for some time for US companies trying to make inroads against Pix.

“With Pix, I don’t have to carry cards or worry about losing them,” Neves da Luz said. At one point, she considered using Samsung Pay but eventually decided against it. “I feel more comfortable supporting a national system rather than a foreign one.”

soared• 12 months ago

IMO better play is going directly to merchants. Pix has cheaper fees than many other payment methods.

toomuchtodo2• 12 months ago

Would you happen to know why merchants accepting credit card rails today are not yet on Pix? Or not dropping credit card rails support (if Pix is supported)? Credit functionality of credit cards?

U.S. targets Brazilian digital payment platform Pix amid trade spat

Related Stories