US France Ties

Nearly 140 countries have been negotiating the first rewrite of international tax rules in a generation

President Donald Trump last month threatened to punish Paris for a new tax on tech giants such as Netflix and Amazon

The US, the second-biggest overseas destination, is threatening 100 per cent tariffs on the drink in response to a French digital-services tax affecting the likes of Alphabet's Google and Amazon.com

The decision sends a clear signal that the US will take action against digital tax regimes that discriminate or otherwise impose undue burdens on its firms, US Trade Representative said

Existing US tariffs on wine from Europe aren't that much lower than the EU's levies on American wine: The gap is about 5 to 15 cents per bottle

The French measure does not only target US companies, and only concerns revenues within France, notably of companies that use consumer data to sell online advertising

It was a symbolic gesture: the tree came from a northern French forest where 2,000 US Marines died during World War I