FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meets French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian during a gathering of foreign ministers aligned toward the defeat of Islamic State at the State Department in Washington, U.S., February 6, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged France in a meeting with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian on Thursday not to approve a digital services tax, saying it would hurt U.S. technology firms, the U.S. State Department said.

France and Britain as well as Italy and Spain are pushing ahead with plans for such taxes after EU countries failed to reach an agreement for the bloc as a whole.

“Secretary Pompeo urged France not to approve a digital services tax, which would negatively impact large U.S. technology firms and the French citizens who use them,” the State Department said after Pompeo met Le Drian on the sidelines of a NATO ministerial meeting Washington.