Trump floats tariffs on wine in response to French digital tax plan, also warns Google over China
- The law signed by President Emmanuel Macron imposes a 3 per cent tax on the revenue of technology giants such as Facebook and Amazon.com in France
France has stuck to its plan to tax big multinational tech companies, defying US President Donald Trump’s suggestion that he might impose tariffs on French wine.
“It’s in all of our interest to move toward a just taxation worldwide for digital companies,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said in Paris. Wine tariffs and the digital tax are “completely different issues” and shouldn’t be lumped together, he told reporters on Saturday.
It is the latest face-off between the self-proclaimed “Tariff Man” in the White House and a major European Union economy. The French tax and Trump’s response threaten to further strain transatlantic ties as the US and EU prepare to negotiate a limited trade agreement on industrial goods.
Trump on Friday raised the possibility of “substantial” retaliation against France. “It might be on wine, it might be on something else,” he later told reporters in Washington.
The law signed by President Emmanuel Macron imposes a 3 per cent tax on the revenue of technology giants such as Facebook and Amazon.com.
“We tax our companies, they do not tax our companies,” Trump said.
The tax, retroactive to January, affects companies with at least 750 million euros (US$845 million) in global revenue and digital sales of 25 million euros in France. While most of the roughly 30 businesses affected are American, the list also includes Chinese, German, British and French companies.