Nearly 150 countries have agreed on a landmark plan to stop large global companies shifting profits to low-tax jurisdictions, but the US will be exempt from the deal, angering tax transparency groups.
The plan, finalised by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), excludes large US-based multinational corporations from the 15% global minimum tax after negotiations between the Trump administration and other members of the G7.
OECD secretary general Mathias Cormann described the agreement as a “landmark decision in international tax cooperation” that “enhances tax certainty, reduces complexity, and protects tax bases”. US treasury secretary Scott Bessent called the deal “a historic victory in preserving US sovereignty and protecting American workers and businesses from extraterritorial overreach.”
The most recent version of the deal waters down a landmark 2021 agreement that set a minimum global corporate tax of 15%. The idea was to stop multinational corporations, including Apple and Nike, from using accounting and legal manoeuvres to shift earnings to low- or no-tax havens such as Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.
Donald Trump criticised the 2021 deal negotiated by the Biden administration, saying it wasn’t applicable in the US. The Trump administration then threatened retaliatory taxes against countries that imposed levies on US firms under the 2021 deal. The Trump administration in June re-negotiated the deal when congressional Republicans rolled back a so-called revenge tax provision from Trump’s big tax and spending bill.
Tax transparency groups have criticised the amended OECD plan. “This deal risks nearly a decade of global progress on corporate taxation only to allow the largest, most profitable American companies to keep parking profits in tax havens,” said Zorka Milin, policy director at the Fact Coalition, a tax transparency nonprofit.
