Overview
- French lawmakers are considering lifting the digital services tax rate from 3% to 15% with higher thresholds that would chiefly capture the largest platforms.
- Ways and Means Republican leaders Jason Smith, Mike Kelly, and Adrian Smith condemned the proposal as an unwarranted attack on U.S. digital firms and warned of aggressive countermeasures.
- Committee leaders said they are prepared to work with President Trump and U.S. Trade Ambassador Greer to pursue Section 301–style trade actions if France proceeds.
- A prior USTR Section 301 investigation found France’s 2019 DST discriminatory and recommended tariffs on about $2.4 billion of French goods, which were later paused in 2021.
- Analysts caution that without a finalized OECD/BEPS Pillar One deal, unilateral DSTs will continue to proliferate and fall heavily on U.S. tech giants such as Google, Amazon, and Meta.