French Finance Minister: Maintaining a digital tax onInternet giants will not give way to US threats

Tencent News Name 2019-07-18

法国财长：维持对互联网巨头征收数字税，不会让步于美国威胁

腾讯新闻名2019-07-18

On the 11th of this month, Francepassed a draft law on the digital service tax imposed on Internet giants. TheUS Internet industry was the most affected. The United States firstcounterattacked and announced 301 investigations into the tax, trying to passeconomic and trade relations. Putting pressure on France has brought tensionbetween France and the United States.

In recent years, the UnitedStates and the European Union and European countries have been arguing in theeconomic and trade fields.

On the 17th, the G7 financeministers will be held in Chantilly, France. The “Digital Service Tax Disputes”that broke out in France and the United States recently became the core issueof this conference.

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On the 11th of this month, Francepassed a draft law on the digital service tax imposed on Internet giants. TheUS Internet industry was the most affected. The United States firstcounterattacked and announced 301 investigations into the tax, trying to passeconomic and trade relations. Putting pressure on France has brought tensionbetween France and the United States.

The G7 Finance Ministers' Meetingon the 17th was the first meeting of the finance ministers of France and theUnited States after the digital service tax dispute. French Minister of Economyand Finance Lemer said that France will not give in to the threat of the UnitedStates on this issue.

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French Minister of Economy andFinance Lemaire: We will try our best to reach an agreement on the digital servicetax issue at this G7 finance ministers meeting, paving the way for the 2020agreement under the OECD framework, which is certainly difficult.

We have seen that the recentattitude of the United States has become tough, and they have launched a 301investigation into France. I want to reiterate that we will maintain thisdigital service tax because this is a decision made by the French peoplethrough the Parliament. Once an agreement is reached on this tax at theinternational level, France will cancel this tax.

However, many media analystsbelieve that due to the obvious differences between France and the UnitedStates, it is unlikely that the meeting will reach an agreement. In June ofthis year, American social media company Facebook said it would issue encrypteddigital currency, which attracted much attention. Digital currency has alsobecome the focus of the G7 finance ministers meeting.

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French Minister of Economy andFinance Lemaire: (currency issued by countries) is guaranteed and has many restrictions.We cannot accept the emergence of new currencies. This new currency has thesame effect as other currencies, but is not subject to the same restrictionsand does not have the same guarantees and responsibilities. We are worried thatdigital currency will be used for money laundering and that this currency isused to finance terrorist activities.