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The United States walks out of UN Tax Negotiations
Countries overwhelmingly decided in a UN General Assembly vote in November 2024 to begin the formal negotiation in 2025 of a UN framework convention on international tax cooperation. Only nine countries opposed the negotiations, among which were the US and UK.
By Isaac OGANGA
The third (3rd) February 2025 marked the beginning of the Organisational Session of the historic Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) on the United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation commenced.
The session’s agenda included the election of committee officers, the resolution of key organizational matters—such as establishing decision-making rules—and the selection of the subject for the second early protocol.
The session was officially opened by the new INC Chair, Egypt’s Deputy Minister of Finance for Tax Policy and Reforms, Ramy Youssef. Among the 18 Vice Chairs elected to the bureau, Africa is represented by Daniel Nuer (Ghana), Wanjiru Kiarie (Kenya), and Mathew Gbonjubola (Nigeria).
In a shocking turn of events, following its submission, the United States walked out of negotiations.
The US indicated that their reason for leaving the negotiations was that the ‘goals of the UN Framework Convention on International Cooperation on International Tax Cooperation are inconsistent with US priorities and represent unwelcome overreach.’ 2It indicated that it did not plan to cooperate any further in the negotiations and intended to reject the outcome of the framework convention process and welcomed others to join it in opposition.
Despite its call, no other member states followed it out.