Monday, 26 August 2019

Trump and Macron strike deal to end feud over France’s tax on tech giants

Illegitimate US president Donald Trump and French president Emmanuel Macron’s respective governments have struck deal to end feud over France’s tax on tech giants.

Trump still won't directly answer when asked if he'll abandon his threatened retaliatory tariffs on wine imports, joking "I can confirm the first lady loved your French wine.”

“We have reached a very good agreement,” Macron said at a joint news conference with Trump as the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Biarritz, France, ended on Monday.

From Bloomberg:

The law Macron signed imposes a three per cent tax on the revenue of technology giants such as Facebook Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. Trump objected to France taxing U.S.-based companies.

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.

“We are pushing for international rules on this,” Macron said. “It is not against any company in particular, it’s just to solve the problem.”

PHOTO, TOP: The White House, on Flickr, Public Domain image.

#G7Biarritz
President Donald J. Trump and Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau, joined by their delegation members, participate in a bilateral meeting at the Centre de Congrés Bellevue Sunday, Aug. 25, 2019, in Biarritz, France, site of the G7 Summit. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

PHOTO, BOTTOM:

President Donald J. Trump joins the G7 Leadership and Extended G7 members as they pose for the “family photo” at the G7 Extended Partners Program Sunday evening, Aug. 25, 2019, at the Hotel du Palais Biarritz, site of the G7 Summit in Biarritz, France. (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks)