President Trump downplayed his Monday threat to levy tariffs on $2.4 billion worth of French products, saying the countries should be able to solve the underlying conflict.
“We have had a minor dispute, but I think we will probably be able to work it out,” Trump told reporters Tuesday during a meeting in London with French President Emmanuel Macron.
The White House made the tariff threat Monday in response to France’s imposition of a digital services tax on high-tech companies. The tax takes 3% of the annual revenue of technology companies, such as Amazon, Apple, and Facebook, made from French users. The administration said the tax unfairly discriminates against U.S. companies and that it was proposing tariffs of up to 100% on French products in response.
Trump said Wednesday that he didn’t particularly like the high-tech companies “because they’re not exactly for me,” but added he was obligated to counter France’s action. “We want to tax American companies. That’s important. It’s not for somebody else to tax them.”
The president indicated that a compromise was possible. “I am sure within a short period of time, things will be looking very rosy, we hope. That’s usually the case between the two of us — we get it worked out.”
