U.S. holds off French tariff to probe global taxes

The United States declared Thursday its cancelation of tariffs on French cosmetics, handbags, and other imports that it imposed in July last year. The indefinite suspension of French tariffs starting Wednesday would take effect to make room for 10 investigations into similar taxes in India, Italy, Britain, and other countries.

The U.S. Trade Representative’s office (USTR) made the announcement on Thursday. The suspended tariffs are about 25% of tariffs on French goods which are valued at around $1.3 billion on a yearly basis.

The July-imposed 25% tariffs were made by the U.S. after France singled out U.S. companies such as Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Apple in French digital services tax (DST) implementation.

This development was welcomed by European leaders and industry groups, saying it would make more time for negotiations on a global taxation solution to be fruitful.

In a statement, EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis stressed the bloc’s willingness to cooperate in coming up with a global solution for fair taxation of the sector.