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Victory for Corporate Tax Dodgers as OECD Approves Watered-Down Global Minimum Tax
“The Trump administration has chosen to prioritize maintaining rock-bottom taxes for big corporations to the detriment of ordinary Americans and our allies across the globe," said one critic.
Jan 05, 2026
The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development is facing criticism for buckling under US demands when finalizing an update to the global minimum corporate tax agreement.
As reported by Reuters on Monday, the OECD agreed to amend a 2021 deal to enforce a 15% global minimum corporate tax to include "simplifications and carve-outs to align US minimum tax laws with global standards, accommodating earlier objections raised by the Trump administration."
Under the original framework, OECD members agreed to apply a 15% corporate tax on multinational corporations that book profits in jurisdictions that have lower tax rates.
President Donald Trump objected to this, however, and insisted that some US corporations be given exemptions that have subsequently been granted by OECD states.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the revised deal "represents a historic victory in preserving US sovereignty and protecting American workers and businesses from extraterritorial overreach," while noting that it allowed for US-headquartered firms to be subject only to US global minimum taxes.
Some critics, though, accused the OECD of letting the US get away with robbery.
Zorka Milin, policy director at the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition, warned that the deal "risks nearly a decade of global progress on corporate taxation" by allowing "the largest, most profitable American companies to keep parking profits in tax havens."
“The Trump administration has chosen to prioritize maintaining rock-bottom taxes for big corporations to the detriment of ordinary Americans and our allies across the globe," Milin added.
Alex Cobham, chief executive at Tax Justice Network, said other OECD members were only hurting themselves by caving to Trump's demands.
"By the Tax Justice Network’s assessment, France for example is already losing $14 billion a year to tax cheating US firms, Germany is losing $16 billion, and the UK is losing $9 billion," Cobham explained. "Today’s bending of the knee to Trump will cost countries billions more. But how much more? Tellingly, the OECD, which has delivered this shameful result, and OECD members have not put a number on the scale of tax losses that will result."
An analysis published last month by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) made the case that global minimum corporate taxes were needed to prevent US companies from sheltering vast profits by reporting them in nations that serve as offshore tax havens.
As an example, ITEP pointed to data showing that the profits US companies reported in notorious tax havens such as Barbados and the British Virgin Islands were more than 100% of those territories' gross domestic product, which the report noted "is obviously impossible."
ITEP went on to state that full implementation of this global minimum tax is "the best hope for blocking the types of tax avoidance that have weakened corporate income taxes all over the world" by making it "difficult for any single government (even one as powerful as the US) to ignore or weaken it."
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Economist Says Fed Warning Shows Trump Driving US Economy 'Toward Disaster'
"Launching chaotic trade wars with our allies and gutting Social Security, Medicaid, and other vital programs in order to fund tax breaks for his billionaire donors isn't making life more affordable for working-class families."
Mar 19, 2025
A former Obama administration economic adviser said Wednesday that the Federal Reserve's forecast of increased unemployment, accelerating inflation, and slower growth driven by President Donald Trump's economic policies could portend a return of the "stagflation" that plagued the nation in the 1970s.
The Federal Open Markets Committee, which sets U.S. monetary policy, downgraded its economic outlook for 2025 from an initial projection of 2.1% growth to 1.7%. FOMC also revised its inflation forecast upward from 2.5% to 2.8%.
While FOMC said that "recent indicators suggest that economic activity has continued to expand at a solid pace," the committee noted that "uncertainty around the economic outlook has increased."
Fears of an economic slowdown or even a recession have increased dramatically since Trump took office and imposed tariffs on some of the nation's biggest trade partners while moving to gut critical social programs in order to fund a $4.5 trillion tax cut that will overwhelmingly benefit wealthy Americans.
"Inflation has started to move up now. We think partly in response to tariffs and there may be a delay in further progress over the course of this year," Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said during a Wednesday news conference, at which he said interest rates will remain unchanged. "The survey data [of] both household and businesses show significant large rising uncertainty and significant concerns about downside risks."
The economic justice group Groundwork Collaborative said the FOMC projections show that "Trump is steering our economy toward disaster," while warning of the possible return of stagflation, a combination of low or negative economic growth and inflation.
Alex Jacquez, the chief of policy and advocacy at the Groundwork Collaborative and a former adviser at the White House National Economic Council during the Obama administration, said in a statement that "the Federal Reserve's projections confirm what millions of Americans are already thinking: President Trump is steering our economy toward disaster."
"Voters elected President Trump to lower the cost of living, and instead, they continue to be saddled with persistently high inflation and interest rates," Jacquez continued. "Launching chaotic trade wars with our allies and gutting Social Security, Medicaid, and other vital programs in order to fund tax breaks for his billionaire donors isn't making life more affordable for working-class families. It is, however, a perfect recipe for stagflation."
Trump's economic policies—which some observers believe could be designed to deliberately tank the economy so that the ultrawealthy can buy up assets at deep discounts—have sent consumer confidence plummeting. Meanwhile, recent polls have revealed that a majority of voters disapprove of Trump's handling of the economy and inflation.
The latest FOMC forecast came as the world braces for yet another escalation of Trump's trade war, with the president threatening to implement worldwide reciprocal tariffs starting April 2.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said Monday that Trump's trade war is likely to slow economic growth in the United States and around the world.
"The global economy has shown some real resilience, with growth remaining steady and inflation moving downwards," OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said. "However, some signs of weakness have emerged, driven by heightened policy uncertainty."
"Increasing trade restrictions will contribute to higher costs both for production and consumption," Cormann added. "It remains essential to ensure a well-functioning, rules-based international trading system and to keep markets open."
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Biden Must Act Now to End US Funds for Fossil Fuels Abroad
With an incoming Trump administration ready to bend to the will of the fossil fuel industry, the Biden administration cannot afford to miss this opportunity to secure its climate legacy.
Nov 14, 2024
The Biden administration is running out of time to fulfill its promises to stop using U.S. taxpayer dollars to finance fossil fuel projects overseas. And, as Donald Trump is about to assume the presidency, this is one of the final chances for President Joe Biden to cement his climate legacy.
On November 18, member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) will meet to consider a proposal to end support from export credit agencies (ECAs) for fossil fuels. This proposal not only has the ability to change the course of the climate crisis by shifting $41 billion USD per year globally out of oil and gas, but is the final opportunity for the outgoing Biden administration to fulfill its pledges made through the Clean Energy Transition Partnership, the International Climate Finance Plan, Executive Order on the Climate Crisis, and via G7 statements in 2022 and 2024.
Since May of 2023, the U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM)—our country’s ECA—has approved $2.2 billion in new oil-, gas-, and coal-related projects overseas, including a $500 million loan for an oil and gas drilling project in Bahrain. Additionally, EXIM is considering financing dangerous projects like Mozambique LNG and Papua LNG. With a recent report finding that EXIM was considering financing international fossil fuel projects with lifetime emissions equivalent to roughly 80% of the annual fossil fuel carbon dioxide-equivalent output of the entire United States (or 1,300 coal-fired power plants), this proposal is a critical action President Biden can still take to reduce harmful emissions, stop EXIM from financing dangerous fossil fuel projects abroad, and follow through on his commitments.
President Biden’s reputation as our country’s most pro-climate president is on the line.
The climate crisis has reached a critical point, and it’s unconscionable to keep funneling taxpayer dollars into reckless fossil fuel projects overseas. We are already paying the price for this ongoing investment in fossil fuels—facing record-breaking floods, devastating storms, and deadly extreme weather. The escalating severity of these climate disasters must be a wake-up call our leaders can no longer ignore: Taxpayer financing for overseas fossil fuel projects must end now. And, the support for this climate action is strong: Over 250 civil society organizations have called on OECD member states to end public oil and gas funding.
OECD member states as a whole send $41 billion annually to fossil fuel projects despite the blatant need for a swift transition to clean energy, and the Biden administration’s failure to put forward a position—despite pledging to do this numerous times—has led to deadlock and inaction. The billions of dollars per year that EXIM provides for fossil fuels could be shifted away from fossil fuels to renewable energy projects and be presented as part of a climate finance package at COP29. With the clock ticking for his administration, President Biden must agree to end public financing of foreign fossil fuels via EXIM, follow through on past commitments, and show global climate leadership at COP29 and beyond.
As one of the world’s largest emitters, the United States must use this opportunity to reach our global clean energy agreements and hold ourselves and the rest of the international community accountable for keeping goals such as 1.5°C alive. This meeting is a chance for redemption, to set a global example, and to allow the Biden administration to keep its promise from Glasgow. Taking advantage of this moment will ensure that the progress made over the past four years cannot be undone, will help reduce global emissions, and will help at home by safeguarding tax dollars and fortifying the Biden administration’s record of protecting communities from the climate crisis.
President Biden’s reputation as our country’s most pro-climate president is on the line. With an incoming Trump administration ready to bend to the will of the fossil fuel industry, the Biden administration cannot afford to miss this opportunity to commit the United States to ending taxpayer funding for fossil fuel projects abroad. This decision should not be a difficult one—and we hope that the Biden administration agrees to put communities both here and abroad and the climate over fossil fuel industry interests.
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