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If the EU and the Joe Biden administration fail to agree on a global framework for committing to a unilateral tax on big tech, EU leaders are prepared to affirm their commitment and go it alone.

Supposedly, all of this should happen by the middle of this year.

In a summit later this month, the leaders plan to emphasize the need to strongly and urgently address tax challenges arising from the digitalization of the economy, according to an early draft of a joint committee seen by Bloomberg.

What the EU leaders want

Without proper measures, there can be no fairness or effectiveness, according to the draft. The leaders also vow to work on a consensus-based solution that will arrive sometime mid next year. They also said that they will confirm their willingness to move forward with the plan.

It would be great if the US would work with the EU on ensuring that big tech power is curbed and regulations are in place.

A recent highlight of what can happen when a big tech company shifts its weight, was the fallout from Facebook’s decision to take down important pages in protest of regulations meant to protect users.

The EU’s brisk pace

Several EU countries are ready to move ahead and seem frustrated by the slow progress of international negotiations. Some of these countries have already implemented their own rules and planed levies on the revenue earned by big tech within their respective countries.

The so-called digital services taxes started a dispute with the former Donald Trump administration, which quickly moved to enact one retaliatory sanction after another.

As to what the Biden administration will do, the jury is still out. The EU, however, is not going to wait around.