British Prime Minister Boris Johnson (R) welcomes US President Donald Trump (L) to the NATO summit at the Grove Hotel in Watford, north-east London on 4 December 2019.
Peter Nicholls | AFP | Getty Images
The UK government has rejected a report that it plans to end a tax on digital businesses to help secure a trade contract with the US
A report in the British newspaper, the Mail on Sunday, said that Finance Minister Rishi Sunak was seeking to reverse a recent decision on a digital tax to please American companies and politicians, and to help both nations achieve a trade deal .
However, a UK Treasury spokesman told CNBC on Monday: “We have made it clear that this is a temporary tax that will be removed once an appropriate global solution is in place – and we will continue to work with our international partners to that end. to reach. “
The UK government had previously said, despite pressure from the United States, that it would only replace its digital tax once there was an international agreement on how to tax digital giants – something that has not happened yet .
The US has criticized several charges and in June decided to launch a formal probe into countries with digital taxes as those seeking to implement one, including the UK, Italy and Brazil. The US administration believes that a digital tax is independent of US companies.
Earlier, the US threatened to impose an extra duty on French goods after France became the first major economy to legislate for a digital tax legislation. As a result, the French government decided to postpone the collection of payments until 2021.
The idea was to develop an international agreement with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in the meantime. However, these negotiations remained stagnant after the US decided in June to withdraw from the talks.
In January, President Donald Trump said he was happy to negotiate a “great” new trade deal with the United Kingdom
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