Amazon, Facebook, Google and the other giants of the net, targeted by the 3% tax on digital adopted by France, have an appointment Monday in Washington, to plead their case with the US government.

ON DECRYPT

"Unjustifiable", "unreasonable", "discriminatory", "hindering progress" ... The big American digital companies do not lack the qualifiers to express their disagreement with the "GAFA tax". Adopted by the National Assembly in early July, this tax of 3% on the activities in France of the digital giants, retroactive to the year 2019, irritates the other side of the Atlantic. And reprisals against France are already envisaged.

A tax on French wine?

In fact, the hearing of digital businesses by the Office of the Trade Representative in Washington is only a formality. The US administration has already taken up the cause for its flagships, explicitly targeted by France (although other companies are concerned, including Chinese and French). The rendezvous should simply serve to establish the grievances of each other and organize the American counterattack.

Not always on the same line as Donald Trump, the GAFA will this time rely on the US President to defend them. Wind standing against the French tax, he considers "stupid", the US president has already promised reprisals. He has thus openly threatened to tax French products, starting with wine. According to CNBC, this possible tax, which would drop our exports, could be put in place as early as August 26.

Rising prices on Amazon, to start

Companies, too, are preparing their counter-attack. Amazon has already announced that it will pass the 3% tax on sales expenses paid by partner companies who sell their products on Amazon in France. According to Peter Hiltz, head of Amazon's international tax policy, this would concern "more than 10,000 small and medium-sized companies based in France".

At the end of the chain, it is therefore the consumer who could pay this additional 3%. A measure that could emulate: through the Information Technology Industry Council, a pressure group that represents the interests of major companies in the new technology sector, Facebook, Google, eBay or Microsoft also pose a threat.