The French finance minister said he was ready to bring Trump's threat to impose tariffs on champagne and other goods on the WTO.

"We are ready to take this case to international courts, especially the World Trade Organization (WTO), because the tax we impose on digital companies has an impact on American businesses as well as businesses. The EU, France or China. We do not discriminate, "Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told French television channel France on 3 December.

Paris has long complained that US digital companies are not paying enough taxes to France. In July, Paris imposed a 3% sales tax on digital services with companies with sales of more than EUR 25 million in France and EUR 750 million (USD 845 million) worldwide. The move affects major US companies like Amazon and Facebook.

The Trump administration calls the French tax rate "discriminatory", which is inconsistent with the common practice of international tax policy and an extraordinary burden on the affected companies. Washington threatens to retaliate with a 100% tax on champagne, cheese and luxury French bags, but France and the European Union say they are ready to retaliate if Trump does.

Previous presidents have considered European leaders a close economic ally, but the Trump administration has taken a tougher approach. Trump accused Europe of manipulating currencies and trade terms to trade surpluses with the United States. The White House boss has warned against imposing taxes to block European goods from the US market.

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