Boris Johnson to discuss Amazon’s tax case with Jeff Bezos during a visit to the United States | Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson plans to put pressure on Amazon boss Jeff Bezos on the tech giant’s tax case when the two meet face to face in New York on Monday, Downing Street said.

Prime Minister to meet Bezos as part of a three-day trip to New York and Washington, where Johnson will address the United Nations General Assembly and meet with US President Joe Biden and his deputy , Kamala Harris, at the White House. .

After making contingency plans to deal with Covid in England this winter and making a ruthless reshuffle of his top team, Johnson hopes to put the spotlight on the global agenda on his first trip outside the UK since the start of the pandemic.

Amazon, which has made Bezos – its founder and former CEO who is now its executive chairman – a multi-billionaire, has faced lingering questions about whether it is paying its fair share of tax, as well as the terms and conditions. conditions facing its workforce.

It was recently revealed that Amazon’s UK revenue grew by more than 50% in 2020 to reach £ 20.63bn, but its main UK division only paid £ 18.3m. sterling of direct taxes.

Bezos took a brief trip to space in his New Shepard rocket earlier this year, as part of what has been dubbed the ‘billionaire space race’, along with other super rich men, including Elon. Tesla’s Musk, developing their own rival space vehicles.

When asked if Johnson would increase Amazon’s fiscal record with Bezos, the Prime Minister’s official spokesperson said: “Yes, you can expect the Prime Minister to raise this important issue.”

“As you know, we have been one of the main advocates for an international solution to the fiscal challenges posed by the digitization of the economy,” the spokesperson said, adding: “We have secured an agreement in the G7 on the digital tax, so we’ll be looking a lot to increase that.

With Biden being a strong advocate for a more robust approach to corporate taxation, this move may be aimed in part to highlight Johnson’s reformist credentials ahead of the important trip to the White House.

Johnson is also expected to pressure Biden to lift the travel ban that prevents most British passengers from traveling to the United States. The two countries set up a working group three months ago to work on opening up travel, but no proposal has yet come out.

England will significantly ease travel restrictions next month, replacing the three-tiered two-tier traffic light system and relaxing testing requirements for double-vaccinated passengers returning from non-redlisted countries.

The precipitous withdrawal of the West from Afghanistan and how to manage the new Taliban government will also be on the agenda of the meeting of world leaders in New York.

Biden’s arrival at the White House sparked new global attempts at tax cooperation, which had been blocked by Donald Trump.

G7 leaders signed a landmark deal at the June summit in Cornwall to tie the tax revenues of the largest multinational tech companies more closely to the income they earn in each country and set a minimum tax rate of 15 % on corporations.

More than 130 countries have since endorsed the proposals, which are overseen by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and aim to end a “race to the bottom” that has undermined corporate tax revenues by pitting countries to each other.

However, the UK has drawn criticism for pushing the financial sector to be exempt from the new system. Final details on how the new system will work are being worked out, with some countries, including low-tax Ireland, still reluctant to register.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak unilaterally imposed a 2% digital services tax on multinational tech companies last year – a tax that is expected to expire if a global deal is reached.

Johnson will also discuss the climate crisis with Bezos, the No.10 said. The Amazon founder believes his space exploration efforts are part of the solution.

“We have to take all the heavy industry, all the polluting industry and move it into space, and keep the Earth as this beautiful gem of a planet that it is,” Bezos told US broadcaster MSNBC in July. .

The Prime Minister hopes to use the trip to “galvanize” international action, just weeks away from the UK hosting the critical UN Cop26 summit.

Cop26 President Alok Sharma will travel with Johnson, as will new Foreign Minister Liz Truss.

After the G7 summit, Johnson was criticized for failing to persuade his fellow leaders to sign a specific end date for coal use, or a concrete plan to raise the $ 100 billion ($ 73 billion pounds) in funding they have long promised, to help developing countries move away from polluting technologies and deal with the impacts of extreme weather conditions.

The OECD released a report on Friday showing the target would be missed by around $ 20 billion.

Downing Street said Johnson would use meetings on the sidelines of the United Nations general assembly this week to push for the $ 100 billion pledge to be honored. As a down payment, the government is announcing that £ 550m of the £ 11.6bn the UK has set aside for climate finance over the next five years will go to developing countries.

At the end of the week, the UK will release details of countries’ financial commitments to date. Germany and Canada have carried out a “100 billion dollar delivery plan”, which will be released ahead of the Cop26 summit.

Johnson said: “By coming together to agree on the $ 100 billion pledge, the richest countries in the world have made a historic commitment to the poorest in the world – now we owe it to them to keep it.

“The wealthiest nations have reaped the benefits of unhindered pollution for generations, often at the expense of developing countries. As these countries now try to grow their economies in a clean, green and sustainable way, we have a duty to support them on this path – with our technology, our expertise and with the money we have pledged. “

Johnson is expected to be challenged by EU leaders over the UK’s controversial participation in the Aukus deal – the trilateral deal with Australia and the US on military cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.

France was enraged by the deal, which saw the cancellation of a French contract to build nuclear submarines for Australia. Paris took the extraordinary step on Friday to withdraw its ambassadors from Washington and Canberra for consultations.