Davos (Switzerland) (AFP)
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire assured Wednesday after an interview with his American counterpart Steven Mnuchin that Paris and Washington had found a "common global framework" on the French digital tax which irritates the United States.
"France is ready to postpone the payment of its digital tax installments to December 2020" and the "United States is ready to suspend the sanctions" they threatened to take against French products during this time, he said. he said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
"France will not accept any withdrawal or suspension of its tax until there is an international solution," added the minister, refraining from bowing to American pressure.
"We still have to agree on (a) common basis of work" with the United States to advance negotiations within the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) both for an international digital tax, and for minimum corporate taxation.
Washington had notably advanced as a basis for discussion the principle of optional taxation, a red line for Paris. "I think it is no longer on the table," said the French minister.
The latter also assured that Europe was "united as ever" in this affair, rejecting the accusations of playing it alone while other European countries are carrying out their own digital taxation projects.
© 2020 AFP