Berlin and Paris will expedite plans to introduce a common corporation tax system, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced. “We have decided, with more emphasis than in the past, to push on with the ‘Common Corporation Tax with France’ project,” Merkel said in her regular weekend video podcast. “That means when we decide on a joint corporation tax assessment basis for France and Germany, we will also consider the realities that are unfolding in America,” she said. It comes in response to tax cuts announced by US President Donald Trump's administration at the end of last year, which envisions cutting the corporation tax from 35 percent to 21 percent. The move prompted protests from European finance ministers who fear that international tax competition will increase due to the proposed US move.