France won't scrap tax on tech giants, despite US President Donald Trump's threats
After US President Donald Trump slammed the 'foolishness' of the tax in a tweet Friday and promised reciprocal action, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said 'France will implement' it anyway.
Published: 27th July 2019 05:36 PM | Last Updated: 27th July 2019 05:36 PM | A+A A-
French President Emmanuel Macron (File Photo | AP)
PARIS: France is pushing ahead with a landmark tax on tech giants like Google and Facebook despite US President Donald Trump's threats of retaliatory tariffs on French wine.
After Trump slammed the "foolishness" of the tax in a tweet Friday and promised reciprocal action, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said "France will implement" it anyway.
ALSO READ: US President Donald Trump threatens French wine in digital tax retaliation
According to Le Maire's office, he added, "the universal taxation of digital activity is a challenge that concerns us all."
He said the tax is meant as a temporary measure pending negotiations on an international tax deal.
The French measure does not only target US companies, and only concerns revenues within France, notably of companies that use consumer data to sell online advertising.
It's designed to stop multinationals from avoiding French taxes by setting up European headquarters in low-tax EU countries.
