France held firm on its plans to resume collection of a national digital tax that hits technology giants including Amazon, Alphabet’s Google and Facebook, saying it wouldn’t be swayed by threats of US sanctions, reports The Irish Times.
The US plans to announce further details in the long-running battle with France over taxes on technology giants as soon as Friday.
The tariff list to be released will be in the ballpark of $500 million to $700 million in goods, according to two people familiar with the matter. The items targeted could include levies on French wine, cheeses and handbags.
“France’s response will be unchanged,” the finance minister Bruno Le Maire said in Brussels. “If there is no international solution by the end of 2020, we will, as we have always said, apply our national tax.”
While a US announcement may come Friday, the US may delay the implementation of the duties until France starts collecting its tax later this year, one of the people said.
Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representative, indicated such a move was imminent at an event Thursday, according to Politico.
“We’re going to announce that we’re going to be taking certain sanctions against France, suspending them like they’re suspending collection of the taxes right now,” the Washington-based website reported Lighthizer as saying in a webcast hosted by Chatham House, a London-based policy institute. Le Maire said he would speak to Lighthizer by telephone later Friday.
Read more of this Bloomberg report publish by The Irish Times.