Germany wants to rescue talks with U.S. on digital services tax

"We continue to work hard for a solution that adequately addresses the tax challenges of digitalisation and leads to fair taxation," the finance ministry said in a statement. "As in every negotiation process, there are points to be clarified together.

Germany wants to rescue talks with the United States on how to tax big digital firms such as Google, Amazon and Facebook, the finance ministry said on Thursday after Washington pulled out of the negotiations. "We continue to work hard for a solution that adequately addresses the tax challenges of digitalisation and leads to fair taxation," the finance ministry said in a statement.

"As in every negotiation process, there are points to be clarified together. That's exactly what we're working on. To this end, we continue to coordinate closely with our international partners," the finance ministry added. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Wednesday that U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had decided to pull out of the negotiations with European Union officials after they failed to make any progress.

France has called the U.S. decision a "provocation" and the European Union said it could impose taxes even if no deal was reached by year-end.