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France and the United States have given themselves two weeks to find an agreement on disputes over digital tax, according to France's Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire.
"I had a long talk with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. We have decided to step up efforts to try and find a compromise, within the OECD, on digital tax," Le Maire told reporters following the meeting in Paris with EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan.
They are due to meet on the sidelines of Davos at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting at the end of January.
The first disagreements between France and the US go back to July when the French government approved a new 3 percent tax on the profits bigger tech companies generate from their digital business. The digital services tax applies to companies which earn more than $27.7 million in France and $830 million worldwide.
In a study the EU commission estimated that traditional businesses face a 23 percent tax rate on profits in the EU, while internet companies pay 8-9 percent.
This decision caused the United States to respond with threats to impose duties of up to 100 percent on imports of champagne, handbags and other French products worth $2.4 billion after a US government investigation found the French tax would harm US technology companies.
"We tax our companies, they don't tax our companies," Trump said.
Le Maire responded to the threats saying "if the Americans decide to go ahead and impose sanctions against the digital tax ... in this case we would retaliate."
"If there were to be sanctions, and it is a possibility that we will take sanctions, we would immediately contact the WTO (World Trade Organization)", he added.
(Reuters)
