Another Trade War? Trump May Put Tariffs On French Goods After France Imposes Digital Tax On Apple, Google

The Trump administration will consider slapping tariffs of up to 100% on $2.4 billion of French products, such as champagne and handbags, in response to a French digital tax that would affect American tech companies such as Apple and Google. Other targeted French products would be cosmetics and cheese.

France has imposed a digital services tax on U.S. tech giants, which have been frequently accused of evading taxes in the EU. But the U.S. trade representative has claimed that the tax is "inconsistent with prevailing principles of international tax policy and is unusually burdensome for affected U.S. companies."

The 3% tax was passed by the French government in July and applies to companies that make more than $27.86 million in digital domestic revenue and over $830 million worldwide. "France just put a digital tax on our great American technology companies," Trump said shortly after the law was passed.

While in London on Tuesday at the NATO meetings, Trump expanded on the possible tariffs against Apple, Google and others.

"I'm not necessarily in love with those companies. But they are our companies. They are American companies. I want to tax those companies. They're not going to be taxed by France.

"I'm not going to let people take advantage of American companies. Because if anyone's going to take advantage of the American companies, it's going to be us."

Other European countries have also considered digital taxes despite U.S. threats. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that he would press ahead with a proposal that would tax large online companies in the U.K. at 2%. Italy also is likely to implement a 3% digital tax proposal.

Big tech companies such as Apple and Google have already been under major scrutiny in the U.S., facing antitrust investigations from the Justice Department and the House Judiciary Committee.

Major Democratic presidential candidates, such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, have called for the big tech companies to be broken up.