US Suspends Planned Tariffs on French Luxury Goods

The US has suspended plans to impose tariffs of 25 percent on French luxury goods, due to take effect this week in response to France’s tax on big tech companies like Facebook and Amazon.

The US Trade Representative (USTR) threatened to impose the tariffs last year following France’s decision to impose a 3 percent levy on certain revenue from big technology companies.

A list of imports from France worth $1.3 billion would have been subject to the additional 25 percent tariff. The list included beauty products like lip and eye makeup preparations as well as handbags with an “outer surface of reptile leather,” according to a statement on the US Trade Representative’s website posted in July 2020.

In suspending the French tariffs, the USTR said in a statement posted to its website on Thursday that investigations into digital-services taxes, or DSTs, in other countries “have significantly progressed, but have not yet reached a determination on possible trade actions.”

“A suspension of the tariff action in the France DST investigation will promote a coordinated response in all of the ongoing DST investigations,” the statement said in part.