Germany has come out against France’s proposal to retaliate against US-imposed tariffs on the EU by imposing taxes on major American tech companies, highlighting the difficulty Europe faces in agreeing on a common strategy to confront Washington’s trade war.
This stance comes as the US imposed a 10% tariff on all EU goods, along with a 25% tariff on steel, aluminium, and automobiles.
Last week, French spokesperson Sophie Primas said that France was ready to answer US President Donald Trump’s tariff war and was willing to single out digital services for the EU’s tariff response.
Germany clarified that taxing American big tech services was not among them – especially after Trump agreed to reduce tariffs on the EU from 20% to 10%, as stated by Jörg Kukies, German federal minister for finance, during a press briefing in Brussels today.
But Kukies maintained that all options remained on the table should Trump change his mind on tariffs again.
Kukies justified Germany’s position for not taxing digital services by saying that the EU had not alternatives to US data centres, cloud, and artificial intelligence services.
The EU had a significant €108.6 billion deficit in services with the US in 2023.
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