Europe threatens digital taxes without global deal after US quits talks

France says US decision provocative; deadline slipping out of reach

Published Thu, Jun 18, 2020 · 09:50 PM

Paris

FRANCE said a US decision to quit global talks on how to tax big digital firms such as Google, Amazon and Facebook was a "provocation" and the European Union said it could impose taxes even if no deal was reached by year-end.

The latest transatlantic trade row was ignited after Washington said on Wednesday it was withdrawing from negotiations with European countries over new international tax rules on digital firms, saying talks had made no progress.

Nearly 140 countries are involved in the talks organised by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on the first major rewrite of global tax rules in a generation to …