France must drop its tax on American technology or face a 100% tariff on its wine, President Donald Trump warned hours before departing for the Group of Seven Summit.
The U.S. will “have no choice” but to apply the tariffs if French President Emmanuel Macron does not end its 3% levy on large digital services companies.
“I asked him not to charge American companies, and if they do, I have no choice but to charge a 100% tariff on all champagnes and all wines coming out of France,” Trump told the New York Post in an interview. “All [Macron] has to do is get rid of the sales tax, and he wouldn’t have that kind of pressure.”
The warning raises the prospect of a renewed transatlantic trade clash as Trump heads to Évian-les-Bains, France, for the G7 summit Macron will be hosting. The gathering comes as U.S. allies remain wary of Washington’s increasingly aggressive approach to trade disputes.
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he White House did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ request for comment.
France’s digital services tax, often called the GAFAM (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft) tax, has been in force since 2019. It applies a 3% levy to revenue earned in France by large digital companies with more than about $29 million in French revenue and about $870 million in global revenue. The measure has long angered U.S. officials because it disproportionately affects American technology firms.
Trump’s comments appeared to contradict claims from Macron’s office last week that the dispute was no longer under debate among G7 countries. The New York Post reported that a U.S. official had dismissed that account as inaccurate.
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The latest threat revives tariff levels first floated during a U.S. Trade Representative investigation into France’s digital tax in 2019. Trump previously threatened steep tariffs on wine and other alcoholic beverages from France and the European Union, including threats of 200% duties as trade tensions escalated.
Alcohol is one of the European Union’s top exports to the United States, worth about €9 billion ($10.5 billion) in 2024, according to Eurostat data. France is particularly exposed because products such as champagne and cognac must be produced in specific regions, leaving producers with limited ability to shift supply chains.
French wine and spirits exports to the U.S. currently face a 15% tariff, a rate French officials have been lobbying to reduce to zero since Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed to a U.S.-EU trade deal in Scotland last summer.
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The New York Post reported that the U.S. market accounts for about one-fifth of the French wine industry’s global sales, worth more than $2 billion annually.
France’s National Assembly voted in October to double the digital tax to 6% and narrow the threshold to focus on the largest global companies, though ministers later vetoed the move. Lawmakers had initially considered a far larger increase before scaling it back amid industry pressure.
Trump’s renewed tariff threat also comes as other U.S. trading partners reassess digital services taxes under pressure from Washington. Canada shelved its digital tax in 2025 after the U.S. broke off trade talks, while Italy has reportedly weighed repealing its own levy. Britain has maintained its digital services tax under its current trade arrangements with the United States.
The G7 summit runs through Wednesday in Évian-les-Bains. The group includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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