A threat by Donald Trump to tax French wines in retaliation to a proposed levy aimed at big US technology companies is “completely moronic”, France’s agriculture minister has said.
French plans to place a 3% tax on the “GAFAs” – Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple – drew an angry response from the US president, who warned last week that his administration would announce “substantial reciprocal action”.
“They shouldn’t have done this,” Trump told reporters. “I told them, I said, ‘Don’t do it because if you do it, I’m going to tax your wine.’” He added that, despite being teetotal, he had always preferred American wine to French wine.
On Tuesday, the French agriculture minister, Didier Guillaume, hit back, telling BFM TV: “It’s absurd, in terms of having a political and economic debate, to say that if you tax the GAFAs, I’ll tax wine. It’s completely moronic.
“American wine is not better than French wine,” he added. » | Reuters | Tuesday, July 30, 2019
