If the new international system isn’t rolled out, there are “serious risks” of governments implementing country-specific levies, triggering retaliatory trade actions, said Pascal Saint-Amans, director of the organization’s centre for tax policy and administration. He has been named partner at the advisory firm Brunswick Group. (Financial Times, The Logic)   

Talking point: In October 2021, 136 jurisdictions reached an OECD- and G20-brokered agreement to amend how large companies are taxed around the world, setting an international floor and giving governments more rights to charge multinational firms based on where they do business, not just where they’re based. Its implementation has been delayed, and U.S. lawmakers are skeptical. Several governments have proposed or rolled out digital-services taxes as an alternative or stopgap. Canada has one in the works, set to take effect at the start of 2024 if the OECD-led version does not. The U.S. has signalled it could impose tariffs in retaliation. That’s the kind of domino effect that Saint-Amans is expressing concern about.