French President Emmanuel Macron, after a phone talk with US leader Donald Trump, agreed to postpone the collection of digital tax in the republic, The Wall Street Journal reported.

According to US official sources, Macron called Trump on Sunday. During the talks, he agreed to postpone the collection of the tax until the end of this year. Trump said that this year he will not introduce trade tariffs on goods from France. The parties agreed to hold consultations on issues related to digital tax. According to US officials, Macron succumbed to pressure from Trump, TASS reported.

According to the newspaper, earlier in Berlin, Macron met with Trump's national security assistant Robert O'Brien. The latter allegedly told the French leader that a digital tax could entail a trade war between Paris and Washington, as well as between the US and the EU. Consultations between the parties on this issue will continue at the level of finance ministers on the sidelines of the Davos Economic Forum.

A source from among French officials said that Macron did not agree to completely cancel the specified tax. The French side may suspend its collection during consultations between the states, this source specified.

On July 11, 2019, the French Senate passed a bill on the taxation of major digital services companies. This tax applies to the profits of Internet giants received after January 1, 2019, and will be 3% of the total turnover in France. It covers all companies whose turnover exceeds € 750 million globally and € 25 million in France, as well as companies whose field of activity covers online advertising, online trading or the work of information aggregators.

At the beginning of December last year, the office of the US representative at the trade talks said that Washington could impose tariffs on French goods worth about $ 2.4 billion. These products included dairy products as cheese, sparkling wines, cosmetics, bags and porcelain.