European Union

International negotiations on new tax rules for the digital age will fail to conclude this year, raising the risk of a transatlantic trade conflict and a proliferation of contentious national levies on global tech giants.

Apple Inc.’s victory over a record back-tax order faces a challenge at the European Union’s top court as Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager seeks to rescue her crackdown on allegedly unfair fiscal deals doled out to multinational companies.

The iPhone maker’s court victory follows separate criticism that huge EU antitrust fines for Google have made little difference.

For Ireland, a ruling that it didn’t illegally help Apple Inc. is vindication, of sorts.

Apple Inc. won its court fight over a record 13 billion-euro ($14.9 billion) Irish tax bill in a crushing blow to European Union Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager’s crackdown on preferential fiscal deals for companies.

The European Union may delay digital tax proposals to give countries move time to hammer out a deal and avert a transatlantic trade war, a top official from the bloc said.

The Trump administration is starting investigations into digital services taxes considered by several trading partners from the European Union to India that could lead to tariffs being imposed on the countries’ exports to the U.S.

Officials in Brussels may ask Europe’s financial industry to make a joint pledge to keep credit flowing to companies hurt by the coronavirus pandemic.

One strategy being used across international regions is to utilize value-added tax measures as a flexible and effective response to the economic slowdown.

For U.S. firms advising clients who sell internationally, the evolving tailwinds suggest the rewards of a U.S.-U.K. bilateral deal could be major.