US President Donald Trump has declared that a global corporate minimum tax deal "has no force or effect" in the US, effectively pulling America out of the landmark 2021 arrangement negotiated by the Biden administration with nearly 140 countries.
Trump, in a presidential memorandum issued hours after taking office, also ordered the US Treasury to prepare options for "protective measures" against countries that have - or are likely to - put in place tax rules that disproportionately affect American companies.
The European Union, Britain and other countries have adopted the 15% global corporate minimum tax, but the US Congress never approved measures to bring the US into compliance with it.
The US has a roughly 10% global minimum tax, part of Trump's landmark 2017 tax cut package approved by Republicans.
But countries that have adopted the 15% global minimum tax may be in a position to collect a "top-up" tax from US companies paying a lower rate. Trump's memo referred to such actions as "retaliatory."
"Because of the Global Tax Deal and other discriminatory foreign tax practices, American companies may face retaliatory international tax regimes if the US does not comply with foreign tax policy objectives," the memo reads.
"This memorandum recaptures our Nation's sovereignty and economic competitiveness by clarifying that the Global Tax Deal has no force or effect in the United States," it adds.
After years of stalled negotiations on global tax issues hosted by the Paris based-Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to end competitive reductions in corporate tax rates, former US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen agreed to the deal in October 2021.
Trump's Treasury nominee Scott Bessent said last week that following through with the global minimum tax deal would be a"grave mistake."
Another part of the OECD negotiations were aimed at a new arrangement to share taxing rights on large, profitable multinational companies with countries where their products are sold.
The effort was aimed at replacing unilateral digital services taxes that target largely US technology firms from Meta Platforms' Facebook to Apple.
But these so-called "Pillar 1" talks have largely stalled, and without US participation, countries including Italy, France, Britain Spain and Turkey may be tempted to reinstate their digital taxes, risking retaliatory tariffs from Washington.
Officials at the Department of Finance in Ireland are examining Donald Trump's Presidential Memorandum and said they "take note of the concerns raised by the incoming administration."
Ireland signed up to the OECD Global Tax Deal in October 2021.
"Our long-standing position has always been that the international tax system needs to keep pace with how business is now conducted globally," a spokesman for the Department said.
"Continued cooperation and progress on these issues will be necessary to avoid fragmentation and bring much needed stability to the international tax landscape," he said.
"It will be important for all parties to engage constructively over the coming months to examine mutually beneficial solutions to these issues and we continue to lend our support to such an approach through our engagement at the OECD and G20," he added.
Additional reporting from David Murphy
