Trump threatens 100% tariffs on wine if France wont drop tech tax
Article excerpt
President Trump threatened 100% tariffs on French wine if France refuses to abandon its digital services tax targeting U.S. tech companies, according to reporting ahead of a G7 summit. The move escalates tensions over France's levy on giants like Google, Amazon, and Meta. French officials have defended the tax as a fair way to ensure digital platforms pay their share of taxes. The threat comes as Trump has signaled willingness to use tariffs broadly as a negotiating tool. France faces a choice between backing down or absorbing significant economic pressure from the U.S., its largest trading partner.
President Donald Trump is threatening to impose 100 percent tariffs on French wines and champagne unless France eliminates its digital services tax on American tech companies, according to an exclusive interview published Sunday by the New York Post, a conservative-leaning outlet.
Trump told the Post he delivered the ultimatum personally to outgoing French President Emmanuel Macron, giving him a straightforward choice: scrap the tech tax or lose access to the U.S. market, which the Post reports accounts for roughly a fifth of the French wine industry's global sales.
France's digital services tax, known as the GAFAM tax, has been in place since 2019, applying a 3 percent levy on local revenues generated by companies like Google, Amazon, Meta, and Apple. According to the French finance ministry, it generated roughly $700 million last year.
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The threat lands ahead of Monday's G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains, France, and directly contradicts claims from Macron's office last week that the dispute had been quietly resolved. A U.S. official reportedly dismissed that characterization as inaccurate, according to the Post.
France appears increasingly isolated on the issue. Canada dropped its own digital tax in 2025 under U.S. pressure, and Italy is reportedly weighing a similar retreat with the Italian digital services tax.