US suspends tariffs on six nations for multilateral negotiations

WASHINGTON: The US announced that it will impose tariffs on certain goods from Austria, Britain, India, Italy, Spain and Turkey over disputes on Digital Service Taxes (DSTs), while noting that it will suspend tariffs for six months . US Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai said in a statement on Wednesday that the final determination in the one-year Section 301 investigations of DSTs adopted by the six countries is to impose additional tariffs on certain goods from these countries, reports Xinhua news agency.

Tai, however, noted that the US will suspend the tariffs for up to 180 days to provide "additional time" to complete the ongoing multilateral negotiations on international taxation.

In July 2019, the US launched a Section 301 investigation into France's planned tax on digital services, accusing the French government of "unfairly targeting the tax at certain US-based technology companies". French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, however, argued that the tax is necessary to make big internet companies pay their fair share of taxes. In June 2020, the US initiated Section 301 investigations into DSTs considered by 10 American trading partners, including the European Union, Brazil and India. (IANS)

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