I guess we'll get the usual response of the US trying to bring France to its knees by putting tariffs on wine and cheese.
US launches inquiry into French plan to tax tech giants
51–60 of 95 posts
Re: US launches inquiry into French plan to tax tech giants
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
AFAIK the case against Boeing is still open. Arguably Airbus is getting direct subsidies (WTO ruling) while Boeing seems to get pampered by overpriced defense contracts which has the same result more or less (no WTO ruling yet). Conclusion is nobody is innocent, just guilty in different ways.
"EU paid Airbus billions in illegal subsidies, WTO rules" https://www.bbc.com/news/business-44120525
Imagine if Airbus was not there, there would be no safe plane to do short-haul.
Re: US launches inquiry into French plan to tax tech giants
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even with recent tariffs, US tariffs are still generally low, it's hardly a poster child for "protectionism", the EU has other barriers in addition to tariffs and much of it is due to french protectionism. If you think that these "loopholes" should be closed then close them for all companies and countries, don't enact discriminatory laws and then act indignant about it.
> the EU has higher tariffs The estimated trade weighted average of tariffs by the US after the tariff announcements in 2017 was 2.2%. I couldn't find any more recent number. [1] For the EU this appears to be around 1.8% (2017). [2] It is true that the EU used to have higher tariffs though, but I don't think this is still true with the new, recent tariffs by the US. You can find the old number of 1.7% by the US in th…
Always nice to have data instead of opinion on these sort of topics.
Re: US launches inquiry into French plan to tax tech giants
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just showing your patriotism does not add much value to this thread. If you want to have a meaningful contribution, you should use facts and logical reasoning.
The OP provided facts. Now is setting a certain threshold discriminatory, no idea. One interesting data point would be the percentage of US tech giants in total compared to those that fall under the proposed tax. If they are overrepresented it might be discriminatory, if not much less so.
Not sure which fact you are referring to.
“This is discriminatory ...” is a statememt, not a fact.
Re: US launches inquiry into French plan to tax tech giants
#55funny how people feels supportive of some companies based on very loose national links. If you think companies have a national interest at heart (I will make an exception for Chinese), I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell to you.
Re: US launches inquiry into French plan to tax tech giants
#56US has a trade deficit with France. So potentially there is more to loose for France in case of a trade war: https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c4279.html And generally speaking the US has a trade deficit with Europe: https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/europe-middle-east/europe... My understanding of the economic system between the US and the world is that other countries support the US dollar by using it f…
the trade deficit is rather small though and France could easily make up for it through additional taxes.
Re: US launches inquiry into French plan to tax tech giants
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
"EU paid Airbus billions in illegal subsidies, WTO rules" https://www.bbc.com/news/business-44120525
Imagine if Airbus was not there, there would be no safe plane to do short-haul.
Nonsense. Plenty of 717, non-Max 737, MD-88, MD-90, and E170/175/190/195 out there.
Re: US launches inquiry into French plan to tax tech giants
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not sure I agree with the analysis, at least on France. France's top exports to the US are aircraft parts and beverages (wine). Since the US needs those parts to export the (assembled) planes, I think the aircraft lobby (e.g. Boeing) will press hard to prevent a tariff here because it'd raise rates across the board, so that leaves wine: My hunch is even a 100% tariff on wine is unlikely to dissuade anyone from purcha…
Thanks for this precision. Knowing this detail about aircraft parts seems to change the dynamic though. I have to disagree with one point though: “American wine is better than French wine....” (gulp!).
A certain amount of that is certainly tongue-in-cheek. I think if you compare a $20 wine in California to a €10 wine you buy somewhere along the Garonne, you're probably going to enjoy the French wine more.
But we're talking about what changes buying-behaviour, and it's important to consider that as a savvy shopper in the US you can go into a wine shop and buy everything under $20, and you'll find local wins. That's how you anchor your expectations about prices and quality. Now whether that's because of duty/import or it's because of shipping, or it's simply because only big brands will bother exporting is, or any other reason, those reasons are out of scope simply because a tariff isn't going to change them in the slightest.
Re: US launches inquiry into French plan to tax tech giants
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
The US strong protectionism is not through tariffs but through tax incentives, targeted investments hidden as national security contracts and things like "buy american" acts. Just because you dress it up doesn't change what it actually is.
Are you litigating the boeing v airbus thing? didn't the WTO rule that airbus is receiving billions in illegal subsidies? And are you suggesting that france doesn't subside specific industries? If you're complaints are exclusive to the aviation and defence industries then a US complaint regarding the EU and france could include that and every other industry.
I did not write a single word or hint about any of the things you listed, I didn't even have them on my mind. You are 100% projecting.
Re: US launches inquiry into French plan to tax tech giants
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
AFAIK the case against Boeing is still open. Arguably Airbus is getting direct subsidies (WTO ruling) while Boeing seems to get pampered by overpriced defense contracts which has the same result more or less (no WTO ruling yet). Conclusion is nobody is innocent, just guilty in different ways.
"EU paid Airbus billions in illegal subsidies, WTO rules" https://www.bbc.com/news/business-44120525
WTO confirms US failed to fully comply over Boeing subsidies https://phys.org/news/2019-03-wto-fully-comply-boeing-subsid...
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