France, US agree to extend talks over tech tax

Presidents Emmanuel Macron and Donald Trump have agreed to extend negotiations on a dispute over a French tax on tech titans to the end of the year, postponing Washington's threat of sanctions, French officials said on Tuesday.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, speaking before a Brussels meeting with EU counterparts, said: "Macron and Trump had a very constructive discussion... and they agreed to avoid all escalation between the US and France on this digital tax issue."
He stressed that "this remains a difficult negotiation.... A certain number of details need to be worked out, but I believe we're going in the right direction."
The French presidency said on Monday that "France is pursuing its objective of fair taxation on digital companies and finding a compromise within the framework of the OECD."
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal on the sidelines of Davos, Mnuchin said that the truce with France was "the beginning of a solution."