- On Day One, Trump made moves to protect corporate profits, ordering officials to investigate countries with policies that disproportionately target American companies with taxes.
President Donald Trump signed a number of executive orders on Day One.
He pardoned Jan. 6 rioters, ordered withdrawals from the Paris Agreement and the World Health Organization, stalled the TikTok ban, and redefined birthright citizenship. But one wonkish move could have sprawling implications on U.S. companies and international relations: his choice to basically pull the country out of a global tax deal.
In a memorandum, Trump called on officials to notify the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that any promises made by the prior administration with respect to the global tax deal “have no force or effect” in the United States without an act of Congress. The global tax deal was meant to level the international tax playing field with a 15% minimum tax rate on companies, in an effort to stop multinationals from shifting profits to low- or no-tax countries. The Biden Administration supported the OECD tax deal, which was signed by more than 100 other countries, but there were concerns that it could lead to retaliatory taxes against American companies—plus, it doesn’t align with Trump’s “America First” priorities list.
“The OECD Global Tax Deal supported under the prior administration not only allows extraterritorial jurisdiction over American income but also limits our Nation’s ability to enact tax policies that serve the interests of American businesses and workers,” the memo states. Trump’s note was made to his picks for Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, and U.S. trade representative, Jamieson Green, both of whom still need to be approved in a final confirmation vote by the Senate.
Trump ordered them to probe whether foreign countries were not in compliance with tax treaties within the United States, or had tax rules that were “extraterritorial or disproportionately affect American companies.”
From there, he requested they develop and present him with options for “protective measures or other actions that the United States should adopt or take in response to such non-compliance or tax rules.” There’s a 60-day deadline.
