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Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AI

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Meet the 20-year-old CEO who launched a company in high school to solve Gen Z's entry-level job crisis
PoliticsDonald Trump

Trump orders crackdown on possible foreign tax grabs on U.S. companies

By
Alena Botros
Alena Botros
Former staff writer
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By
Alena Botros
Alena Botros
Former staff writer
Down Arrow Button Icon
January 21, 2025, 2:19 PM ET
Donald Trump signing executive orders in the Oval Office on Monday.
Donald Trump signing executive orders in the Oval Office on Monday.Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images
  • 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. 

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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.

Subscribe to Fortune Gulf Brief. Every Tuesday, this new newsletter will deliver clear-eyed, authoritative intelligence on the deals, decisions, policies, and power shifts shaping one of the world’s most consequential regions, written for the people who need to act on it. Sign up here.
About the Author
By Alena BotrosFormer staff writer
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Alena Botros is a former reporter at Fortune, where she primarily covered real estate.

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