French Companies Urge U.S. to Stop Trade Probe on Digital Tax

French companies urged the U.S. to wait for global agreement on digital taxation—or turn to diplomatic or WTO negotiations to resolve the dispute—instead of going ahead with its trade investigation into France’s new digital services tax.

The U.S. Trade Representative should postpone its trade investigation into possible distortive impacts of the French DST until ongoing G-20 and OECD negotiations “have resulted in a satisfactory outcome,” the Association of Large French Companies (AFEP) said in a letter released Aug. 7.

The U.S. opened an investigation under Section 301 of the Trade Act into France’s new digital services tax, which targets ...