AIRLINK 76.15 Increased By ▲ 1.75 (2.35%)
BOP 4.86 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-1.82%)
CNERGY 4.31 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.69%)
DFML 46.65 Increased By ▲ 1.92 (4.29%)
DGKC 89.25 Increased By ▲ 1.98 (2.27%)
FCCL 23.48 Increased By ▲ 0.58 (2.53%)
FFBL 33.36 Increased By ▲ 1.71 (5.4%)
FFL 9.35 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.11%)
GGL 10.10 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
HASCOL 6.66 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-1.62%)
HBL 113.77 Increased By ▲ 0.17 (0.15%)
HUBC 143.90 Increased By ▲ 3.75 (2.68%)
HUMNL 11.85 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-0.5%)
KEL 4.99 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (2.46%)
KOSM 4.40 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
MLCF 38.50 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (0.26%)
OGDC 133.70 Increased By ▲ 0.90 (0.68%)
PAEL 25.39 Increased By ▲ 0.94 (3.84%)
PIBTL 6.75 Increased By ▲ 0.22 (3.37%)
PPL 120.01 Increased By ▲ 0.37 (0.31%)
PRL 26.16 Increased By ▲ 0.28 (1.08%)
PTC 13.89 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (1.02%)
SEARL 57.50 Increased By ▲ 0.25 (0.44%)
SNGP 66.30 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-0.15%)
SSGC 10.10 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.49%)
TELE 8.10 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (1.89%)
TPLP 10.61 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.28%)
TRG 62.80 Increased By ▲ 1.14 (1.85%)
UNITY 26.95 Increased By ▲ 0.32 (1.2%)
WTL 1.34 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-1.47%)
BR100 7,957 Increased By 122.2 (1.56%)
BR30 25,700 Increased By 369.8 (1.46%)
KSE100 75,878 Increased By 1000.4 (1.34%)
KSE30 24,343 Increased By 355.2 (1.48%)

France wants to reach a deal with the US on taxing tech giants by a G7 meeting in late August, Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said Saturday. He was responding to US President Donald Trump, who on Friday vowed "substantial" retaliation against France for a law passed this month on taxing digital companies even if their headquarters are elsewhere. The law would affect US-based global giants like Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon, among others.
Trump denounced French President Emmanuel Macron's "foolishness", though they discussed the issue by phone on Friday, according to the White House.
Macron confirmed that he had a "long" conversation with Trump, stressing the pair would "continue to work together in view of the G7". "We will discuss international taxation, trade and collective security", he said Saturday.
His office earlier said Macron had told Trump that the tax on the tech giants was not just in France's interest but was something they both had a stake in.
Neither side revealed if they had also discussed Trump's threat to tax French wines in retaliation.Le Maire took the same line at a news conference Saturday: "We wish to work closely with our American friends on a universal tax on digital activities.
"We hope between now and the end of August - the G7 heads of state meeting in Biarritz - to reach an agreement." Leaders of the Group of Seven highly industrialised countries are to meet in the southwestern French city on August 24-26.
Le Maire emphasised that "there is no desire to specifically target American companies," since the three-percent tax would be levied on revenues generated from services to French consumers by all of the world's largest tech firms, including Chinese and European ones. But Deputy White House spokesman Judd Deere noted earlier that France's digital services tax was already the subject of an investigation at the US Trade Representative's office, potentially opening the door to economic sanctions.
"The Trump administration has consistently stated that it will not sit idly by and tolerate discrimination against US-based firms," Deere said in a statement.
The French law aims to plug a taxation gap that has seen some internet heavyweights paying next to nothing in European countries where they make huge profits, because their legal base is in smaller EU states. France has said it would withdraw the tax if an international agreement was reached, and Paris hopes to include all OECD countries by the end of 2020. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is a Paris-based forum that advises the world's advanced economies.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019

Comments

Comments are closed.