On one side the hi-tech giants of Silicon Valley, on the other the banks of Wall Street. In between, the sparks between London and Berlin over taxes and Brexit. To convince the world's industrial giants not to flee the United Kingdom in view of its exit from the EU, the British government plans to abolish the "corporate tax", which is currently at 20%.
The original intentions were to lower it to 17%, but now it is said that Prime Minister Theresa May wants to bring it even to 14%. A spokesman for Downing Street denied this, but by now the fear has spread throughout Europe that the British tax authorities want to threaten the Irish paradise, where the tax rate on corporate profits is as high as 12,5%.
It is no coincidence that, completely oblivious to Brexit, the big Americans in technology are betting en masse on Great Britain. The last two have been Facebook e Google, which in recent days have announced their intention to grow in London, where thousands of new jobs will be created. In recent months, similar initiatives had also been presented by Apple and Amazon.
There is enough to arouse the ire of Germany. “Great Britain is still a country of the European Union”, thundered the German Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, recalling that the United Kingdom is still required to respect the EU rules.
But revenge could be consumed at the level of the banks. According to the Financial Times, the EU Commission is expected to approve today a package of rules that would force US banks to increase the capital and liquidity of their European subsidiaries. This intervention, argues FT, would have negative repercussions on the City of London, which would become even less attractive as a headquarters from which to direct operations in Europe.
An additional concern, given that in the event of a "hard Brexit" - or if London also leaves the single European market - the kings of world finance would lose the right to freely sell financial products and services from the British capital in all 28 EU countries.
For this reason, Anthony Browne, chairman and chief executive of the British Bankers' Association, wrote in the Observer last month that the largest British banks are preparing plans to move from the City to a destination on mainland Europe in early 2017.
In short, the Brexit negotiations will only begin in March, but the atmosphere is already that of the trenches.
