France Warns "EU Will Respond If US Imposes Retaliatory Tariffs on Digital Tax"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] France has responded that there will be an EU-level response after the United States warned that it would impose retaliatory tariffs related to the digital tax targeting major US IT companies such as Google and Amazon.

According to major foreign media on the 5th (local time), Bruno Le Maire, French Minister of Finance, sent a letter containing this content to Robert Lighthizer, US Trade Representative (USTR), on the 3rd. In the letter, Minister Le Maire warned, "If the United States imposes trade sanctions against the EU regarding the French digital tax, the relationship across the Atlantic, at a time when unity is needed, will be seriously affected." He added, "France is in contact with the European Commission and other EU member states on this issue," and stated, "As we have done in the past, we are considering various options to firmly defend our trade rights."

Minister Le Maire emphasized that the digital tax does not discriminate against US IT companies and complies with the regulations of the World Trade Organization (WTO). He also said that if the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) creates an international digital tax agreement, France's independent digital tax will be immediately withdrawn. He insisted that any dispute must go through the WTO and urged, "US authorities should stop the (retaliatory tariff) procedure and cease reviewing unilateral tariffs that are neither appropriate nor justified to address this issue."

Minister Le Maire is scheduled to meet Phil Hogan, EU Commissioner for Trade, in Paris on the morning of the 7th to discuss this matter. On the same day, the USTR will hold a public hearing regarding retaliatory tariffs in response to France's digital tax.

Last July, France enacted a law imposing a 3% digital tax on the annual revenue generated within France for global IT companies with total annual revenues exceeding 750 million euros (approximately 978.4 billion KRW) and revenues within France exceeding 25 million euros. In response, the United States is pushing for additional tariffs on imports worth 2.4 billion dollars (approximately 2.8 trillion KRW), including French wine and champagne, arguing that the digital tax discriminates against its IT companies.

US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin sent a letter to the OECD earlier last month expressing serious concerns about the digital tax, stating, "While supporting discussions through the OECD, we urge individual countries to suspend digital service taxes until an international agreement is reached." The Group of Twenty (G20) finance ministers aim to reach a political consensus on the digital tax by June this year. Following France, Italy also implemented a digital tax starting this year, and the United Kingdom is expected to impose a digital tax as well.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.