03 December 2019 - Trump Threatens 100% Tariffs on French Goods in Retaliation for Digital Tax
French Wine Could Face 100% Tariffs as Trump Confronts France Over Tech Taxes
Jim Tankersley and Ana Swanson (The New York Times, 02/12/2019)
The Trump administration said on Monday that a new French tax that hit American technology companies discriminated against the United States, a declaration that could lead to retaliatory tariffs as high as 100 percent on French wines.
It could also jeopardize international efforts to negotiate a truce on so-called digital taxes.
The announcement from the Office of the United States Trade Representative ended a monthslong investigation into the French tax, which hits companies like Facebook and Google even though they have little physical presence in France. The investigation concluded that the tax “discriminates against U.S. companies, is inconsistent with prevailing principles of international tax policy and is unusually burdensome for affected U.S. companies.”
US threatens tax on champagne and French cheese
(BBC News, 03/12/2019)
The Trump administration is threatening to slap import taxes on $2.4bn worth of French goods in retaliation for the country's new digital services tax.
The US says the tax penalises firms like Google, Amazon and Facebook, and is proposing to hit back with tariffs of up to 100% on products including cheese, champagne and handbags.
The digital tax is designed to prevent tech firms from dodging taxes.
U.S. Proposes Tariffs on France in Response to Digital Tax
(Bloomberg Technology, 02/12/2019)
The U.S. proposed tariffs on roughly $2.4 billion in French products, in response to a tax on digital revenues that hits large American tech companies including Google, Apple Inc., Facebook Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. Bloomberg's Laura Davison reports on "Bloomberg Daybreak: Asia."
How ‘Digital Tax’ Plans in Europe Hit U.S. Tech: QuickTake
William Horobin and Aoife White (The Washington Post, 03/12/2019)
Big internet companies have long been the target of complaints that they don’t pay enough in taxes. Fed up, France imposed a 3% levy on the digital revenue of companies that make their sales primarily in cyberspace, such as Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google. Other countries also are targeting companies, most of which are American, that have multinational earnings that often escape the taxman’s grip. The U.S. isn’t taking this sitting down.
1. How does a digital tax work?
The French law imposes a 3% levy on companies with at least 750 million euros ($845 million) in global revenue and digital sales of 25 million euros in France. Of about 30 businesses affected, most are American, but the list also includes Chinese, German, British and even French firms. The idea is to focus taxation where users of online services are located, rather than on where companies base their European headquarters or book their earnings.