France calls US withdrawal from tech tax talks

France’s finance minister has called the withdrawal of the Trump administration from negotiations on a major digital services tax a “provocation.”

Bruno Le Maire made the comment Thursday on France Inter, saying France will still implement the tax regardless of the U.S. change of heart.

Le Maire was referring to a letter, first reported by the Financial Times, in which U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told the finance ministers of France, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom that he was suspending talks on the tax.

“This letter is a provocation. It is a provocation against all the partners at the OECD (the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) when we were centimeters away from a deal on the taxation of digital giants,” he said.

The countries have been discussing an international agreement on the way global taxes work. The tech tax is meant to prevent tax avoidance measures by multinationals, but the U.S. has said it unfairly singles out companies like Amazon and Google.

Le Maire said there was a joint response to the letter from the four countries on Thursday.