French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire | Etienne Laurent/EPA Paris responds to US probe threat as French tech tax passes final hurdle The Trump administration said it had launched an investigation into the French tax, which targets tech giants such as Google, Amazon and Facebook.

The French Senate voted to adopt a digital service tax today as Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire pushed back against criticism from the United States, saying that Paris would makes its own tax decisions.

The comments came after U.S. President Donald Trump's administration said it had launched an investigation into the French tax, which targets the revenues of technology giants such as Google, Amazon and Facebook.

"I deeply believe that allies can and must settle their differences with means other than threats. France is a sovereign state that makes its own fiscal decisions, and will continue to do so," Le Maire told the Senate ahead of the vote.

The 3 percent levy targets companies whose worldwide revenues exceed €750 million or French revenues exceed €25 million. Le Maire tried to get the tax adopted at the EU level but failed to garner enough support for unanimous approval, settling for a national tax instead.

On Wednesday, the U.S. administration said it would probe whether France’s digital tax is an unfair trade practice that targets U.S. tech giants under Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974, a warning shot that could eventually result in tariffs or other retaliatory measures.

"This is the first time in the history of French-U.S. relations that the United States decides to open [such a procedure]," Le Maire said.

He added: "This tax is not the mad idea of a few European states. It is based on the diagnosis that there are new business models based on data ... The tax is temporary. As soon as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) adopts a credible solution, France will withdraw its national tax."

Albéric de Montgolfier, a member of the conservative party Les Républicains who was responsible for the digital tax in the Senate, criticized the French government for refusing to notify the text to the European Commission. "You are taking an unnecessary risk," he told Le Maire.

The Senate's vote is final, as the National Assembly, France's lower house, has already approved the tax.

Hans von der Burchard contributed reporting.