U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer said Monday that he proposed additional tariffs of up to 100 percent on some 2.4 billion U.S. dollars worth of French products.
In a statement released Monday afternoon, the USTR said he has completed the first segment of the investigation under section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 and concluded that France's digital services tax discriminates against U.S. companies, such as Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon.
The USTR said he is issuing a Federal Register notice explaining the issue, and the notice solicits comments from the public on the the proposed action, which includes additional duties of up to 100 percent on certain French products, including Champagne,cheese and handbags.
The United States initiated its Section 301 investigation into France's planned tax on digital services on July 10, accusing the French government of "unfairly targeting the tax at certain U.S.-based technology companies."
Despite U.S. opposition, the French Parliament passed the new law on July 11 to impose a tax on digital giants. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has said the tax is necessary to make big internet companies pay their fair share of taxes.
The French digital services tax imposes a 3-percent tax on total annual revenues generated by some companies from providing certain digital services to, or aimed at, French users.
The tax applies only to companies with total annual revenues from the covered services of at least 750 million euros (830.36 million U.S. dollars) globally and 25 million euros (27.68 million dollars) in France.
The USTR said in the statement that the Section 301 committee will hold a public hearing beginning on Jan. 7, 2020, regarding the proposed action.
Lighthizer added that he is exploring whether to open Section 301 investigations into the digital services taxes of Austria, Italy, and Turkey.
