G7 Agreement on Global Minimum Tax: Exemptions for the US. Giorgetti: “Honorable Compromise”

MILAN – Donald Trump scores a point at the G7 on the issue of global taxation of multinationals , tearing up important exemptions for US companies from the Global Minimum Tax . According to the Financial Times, this is a step that undermines the largest global tax agreement of the last hundred years.

The Canadian presidency of the G7, in a note, explains that an agreement has been found between the major economies for a "parallel solution" that, by reason of the "fiscal sovereignty of the countries", exempts American companies from some parts of the new tax regime, based on the taxes they already pay in the USA.

OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann says the G7 declaration is "a milestone in international tax cooperation" that "paves the way for global minimum tax agreements" and "vital reform of the international tax system." But he appears to be making the best of a bad situation.

The turning point risks overturning the Global Minimum Tax on which a historic agreement was reached in 2021 that aimed to put an end to the tax evasion practices of multinationals: in particular US Big Tech . An agreement that set a minimum tax threshold of 15% of global profits, adopted by several countries but never by the United States itself which in fact considered it already dead . The tax essentially provides for an additional tax equal to the difference between the taxes that weigh on the group in a given country and the minimum amount of 15%.

The City newspaper adds that the new provisions will be discussed in the coming weeks at the OECD, the same body that set the minimum tax for 2021.

The outcome follows the American move to include in the “Big beautiful bill”, President Trump’s budget , the possibility of imposing “retaliatory taxes” on foreign investments from countries that apply the Global minimum tax. Retaliations that the US, as Treasury Secretary Sott Bessent had anticipated this week in view of the turning point at the G7, would now commit to eliminating. The Italian minister Giancarlo Giorgetti defines the G7 agreement as “ an honorable compromise found with the American administration that protects our companies from the automatic retaliations originally envisaged by clause 899 of the Obbba being examined by the US Senate. We must continue to work in this direction and encourage dialogue”.

In recent days, on the occasion of Dla Piper Tax Day , the partners of the law firm Antonio Tomassini and Christian Montinari had highlighted how – in the event of exemptions for the USA – the OECD initiative would be “destined to remain an exclusively European issue - and particularly costly for businesses - with very limited revenue benefits”. “It is becoming urgent to simplify the mechanism, transforming it into a tool to strengthen European cohesion also in the field of direct taxation”, underlined on that occasion Alberto Trabucchi , co-general manager of Assonime.

Once again, then, as in the case of tariffs or Canada's digital taxation , the US is adopting the policy of the stick to reach an international agreement that, according to Markus Meinzer, political director of the activist group Tax Justice Network, represents a "hasty surrender" that would make the agreement on the minimum tax "dead". In the background, moreover, there is still the issue of taxation on digital services, another piece of taxation that the US wants to undermine in favor of its tech champions.