US to probe French plan to tax tech giants

Washington: The global trade war intensifies after US President Donald Trump ordered an investigation into France's planned tax on tech giants.

Many economists have warned that this move could result in retaliatory tariffs.

Trump's trade representative said the US was "very concerned" that the tax "unfairly targets American companies".

The French parliament is due to approve a 3 per cent levy on revenue made by companies like Google and Facebook inside the country, on Thursday.

French lawmakers’ argument is that these firms currently exploit global tax loopholes to generate more revenue.

Tech conglomerates are able to locate their headquarters in low-tax countries where they declare most of their profits, thereby minimising their tax bill.

The new tax is expected to raise about €400m ($450m; £360m) in 2019 itself.

Any digital company with revenue of more than €750m - of which at least €25m is generated in France - will be subjected to this tax.