Washington | Dublin | Donald Trump has threatened to double tax rates for foreign nationals and companies in the US to hit back at “discriminatory” levies on American multinationals, in a move that threatens to trigger a global confrontation over tax regimes.

In a memo outlining his “America First” trade policy on Monday, the US president referred to an obscure 90-year-old provision of the US tax code, Section 891, that empowers him to retaliate against foreign countries by imposing punitive taxes on their citizens and businesses in America.

Financial Times