ECONOMY/G7/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump will make a trade offensive when he meets with leaders of G-7 countries this weekend in France, where he plans to pressure the host nation to repeal a controversial new tax on U.S. tech giants and demand that India lower tariffs, senior administration officials said Thursday [8-22-19]. On top of that, the G-7 leaders gathering in Biarritz, France, will convene Sunday [8-25-19] for a special session on the global economy — a discussion the Trump administration requested specifically…Trump already has one-on-one meetings scheduled with the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Japan, India, Germany and Canada, the officials said. When Trump meets with French President Emmanuel Macron, he will bring up his opposition to France’s new digital services tax, a measure the U.S. views as targeting major U.S. tech companies like Google and Facebook, the officials said. Trump has threatened to hit back by imposing tariffs on French imports, including wine, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has begun an investigation of the tax that could provide a legal basis for U.S. retaliation.”
–Adam Behsudi, “Trade to dominate Trump’s G-7 discussions,” Politico, August 22, 2019 5:10 pm