BIARRITZ, FRANCE ¨C France and the United States reached a deal to end a standoff over a French tax on big internet companies, though U.S. President Donald Trump declined to say whether his threat of a retaliatory wine tax was off the table as a result.

The compromise struck between French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Donald Trump¡¯s White House economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, foresees France repaying companies the difference between the French tax and a planned mechanism being drawn up by the OECD.

France¡¯s 3 percent levy applies to revenue from digital services earned by firms with more than €25 million ($27.86 million) in French revenue and €750 million ($830 million) worldwide.

U.S. officials complain it unfairly targets U.S. companies such as Facebook, Google and Amazon. They are currently able to book profit in low-tax countries such as Ireland and Luxembourg, no matter where the revenue originates.

The row had threatened to open up a new front in the trade spat between Washington and the European Union as economic relations between the two appear to sour. Defusing the row was a positive for Macron at a summit with few concrete outcomes.

¡°We¡¯ve done a lot a work ... we have a deal to overcome the difficulties between us,¡± Macron told a news conference alongside Trump at the end of a G7 summit in France.

Le Maire and his U.S. counterparts worked on finding a deal all weekend, first at the French finance minister¡¯s family house in the Basque countryside and later at a Sunday dinner in a Biarritz restaurant, the source said.

Trump had lambasted Macron¡¯s ¡°foolishness¡± for pursuing the French levy and threatened to tax French wines in retaliation.

The French leader pushed hard in 2018 for a digital tax to cover EU member states, but met resistance from some other countries. He decided to go ahead with a national tax, which was signed into law in July and applies retroactively to Jan. 1, 2019.