‘It’s a Provocation’: French Finance Minister Bashes US Over Its Withdrawal From Digital Tax Talks

Earlier this week, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer pointed out that no progress had been made in negotiations between American and EU officials on a global digital tax deal.

French Foreign Minister Bruno Le Maire has slammed the US over its move to suspend talks on a global digital services tax, proposed by the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Referring to US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s recent letter on the matter, Le Maire described the document as “a provocation”.

This echoed Le Maire’s earlier remarks that “the last state that is blocking an agreement on digital taxation at the OECD is the United States”.

This followed Mnuchin admitting in the letter to finance ministers from the UK, Spain, Italy, and France seen by the Financial Times that the global digital tax-related discussions had reached an “impasse”.

He also warned that if “countries choose to collect or adopt such taxes, the United States will respond with appropriate commensurate measures”.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin during a briefing at the White House in Washington, Friday, Jan. 10, 2020.

US Treasury Department spokeswoman Monica Crowley, for her part, said in a statement that Washington is suggesting “a pause in the talks” so that national governments can focus on responding to the coronavirus pandemic.

Lighthizer made the statement after he initiated a probe earlier in June about whether digital services taxes considered by Austria, Brazil, the Czech Republic, the EU, India, Indonesia, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and the UK were in sync with trade regulations.

Trump Vows Retaliation Against French Digital Tax

Last year, US President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on French goods in response to Paris’ pushing to introduce a digital service tax on the annual revenues of mostly American companies.

The three-percent tax, called “GAFA” by the French media (an acronym that means Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon) targets digital companies with global annual sales of more than €750 million ($849 million) and sales in France of at least €25 million ($27.7 million).

As for the OECD-proposed digital tax, it includes two key pillars, with the first portion due to provide the countries with the right to tax profits based on sales within their borders. The second pillar stipulates implementing a global minimum tax to keep countries from lowering corporate tax rates in what the Financial Times described as “an attempt to shift company headquarters to their jurisdictions”.

Sourse: sputniknews.com