PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron, who will defend a global tax on tech giants at this weekend’s G7 meeting, on Wednesday criticised a "crazy" system that gives firms a "permanent tax haven status".
"The global tech players do not contribute financially to the funding of the common good, it is not sustainable," the president told reporters.
He said he had on Monday discussed the issue with US President Donald Trump, who has strongly opposed a law passed in France last month on taxing digital companies even if their headquarters are elsewhere.
The law will affect US-based global giants like Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon, among others.
Macron said there had been "very strong lobbying" by the tech giants.
"We must stop having people who have a permanent tax haven status," he said.
The French law aims to plug a taxation gap that has seen some internet heavyweights paying next to nothing in European countries where they make huge profits, because their legal base is in smaller EU states.
France has said it would withdraw the tax if an international agreement is reached, and Paris hopes to include all OECD countries by the end of 2020.
Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said last month France hoped to reach an agreement with the US on a universal tax on digital activities before the G7 heads of state meeting in Biarritz this weekend.
Space X owner and Rupert Murdoch to be presented with the Ginsburg Award, named after late Supreme Court Justice Ruth...
Putin, also for the first time, talks about Alexei Navalny's death in his victory speech
Trump hinted at a 16 week ban with exceptions for cases of rape, incest, or health of mother
Nearly a quarter of the votes have been counted with Putin leading the race with 87.9%
The volcanic eruption began between Stora Skogfell and Hagafell in the Reykjanes Peninsula
After hiding money in random places throughout the city, the account posts a video with clues on Instagram