Reported today on The New York Times
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French Wine Could Face 100% Tariffs as Trump Confronts France Over Tech TaxesA report by the Office of the United States Trade Representative renewed a conflict between the countries, which had negotiated a temporary truce in August.WASHINGTON – The Trump administration said on Monday that a new French tax that hit American technology companies discriminated against the United States, a declaration that could lead to retaliatory tariffs of as high as 100 percent on French wines.It could also jeopardize international efforts to negotiate a truce on so-called digital taxes.The announcement from the Office of the United States Trade Representative ended a monthslong investigation into the French tax, which hits companies like Facebook and Google even though they have little physical presence in France. The investigation concluded that the tax “discriminates against U.S. companies, is inconsistent with prevailing principles of international tax policy and is unusually burdensome for affected U.S. companies.”It recommended tariffs as high as 100 percent on certain French imports valued at $2.4 billion, including cheese, wine and handbags.The administration suggested it could open similar investigations into digital taxes proposed by Italy, Austria and Turkey.The finding does not immediately impose tariffs on French products such as wine, which was already hit with a 25 percent tariff in October in a separate dispute, but it allows the president to impose them if and when he chooses. It could also upend an effort led by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to unite 135 countries around a shared system of taxing technology companies and other multinational corporations, which leaders had hoped would come together in 2020. An escalation of tensions between