Paris, US give themselves 15 days to settle dispute on taxing tech giants

France and the United States have given themselves 15 days to settle a dispute over the taxation of US tech giants, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Tuesday.

Le Maire said he had a "long discussion" on the telephone Monday with his US counterpart Steven Mnuchin.

"We have given ourselves exactly 15 days" to solve the issue at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Le Maire said, urging Washington not to impose sanctions during this time. He was speaking at a meeting in Paris with EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan, who said the European Union would "stand together with France" in the dispute.

President Donald Trump last month threatened to punish Paris for a new tax on tech giants such as Netflix and Amazon, unveiling sky-high retaliatory duties on $2.4 billion of French wines, makeup and leather handbags.