Trump threatens tariffs against 'foolish' Macron

  27 July 2019    Read: 1354
Trump threatens tariffs against

US President Donald Trump has accused French President Emmanuel Macron of "foolishness" over a digital services tax, and hinted that he would tax French wine in retaliation, BBC reported.

Mr Trump voiced his anger in a Tweet on Friday, in response to French plans to tax multinational firms like Google.

French authorities argue that the firms pay little or no corporate tax in countries where they are not based.

The Trump administration has said the tax unfairly targets US tech giants.

"France just put a digital tax on our great American technology companies. If anybody taxes them, it should be their home Country, the US," Mr Trump wrote on Twitter.

"We will announce a substantial reciprocal action on Macron's foolishness shortly. I've always said American wine is better than French wine!"

The president - who does not drink - also warned US tech giant Apple that it would not be given any tariff relief on parts made in China. "Make them in the USA, no Tariffs!" he wrote.

The US is the world's largest consumer of wine and the largest import market, with France consistently among the top origin countries for imported wine.

The French government argues that multinational firms such as Apple, which are headquartered outside the country, pay little or no tax on their sales in France. The digital sales tax was approved by the French senate on Thursday, a week after it was passed by the lower house, the National Assembly.

Any digital company with revenue of more than €750m ($850m; £670m) - of which at least €25m is generated in France - will now be subject to the tax, which will be retroactively applied from early 2019 and is expected to raise about €400m in revenue this year.


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