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US giants urge Trump to push back on Australian tax law
John KehoeEconomics editor Sep 17, 2025America’s most powerful business groups representing technology giants, Wall Street banks and manufacturers have asked the Trump administration to press Australia to back down on tax laws that force the public disclosure of financial information they say should be kept private.
Ahead of Anthony Albanese’s expected meeting with President Donald Trump next week in New York, a coalition of nine business groups has written to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to complain that the corporate transparency laws are putting American multinationals at a competitive disadvantage.
“We, the undersigned trade associations, representing a broad range of sectors across the US economy, wish to express our appreciation for President Trump’s steadfast commitment to eliminating tariff and non-tariff trade barriers that impede the global competitiveness of US companies,” the business groups said in the letter dated September 12.
“It is in this context that we write to express our serious concerns regarding Australia’s recently enacted Public Country-by-Country Reporting (PCBCR) regime.”
Separately, American Chamber of Commerce in Australia chief executive April Palmerlee said, “We have rarely experienced such strong feedback through our tax committee and our members that something needed to be done due to the significant impact this could have in terms of releasing commercially sensitive and confidential information to the public, in a context where this information is already provided on a confidential basis to the Australian Tax Office.”
The tax disclosure regime is one of several gripes US business has raised with the Trump administration about Australia.
Other issues previously raised include a crackdown on US tech platforms, including the social media ban for people aged under 16, and a plan to impose financial penalties on digital platforms such as Meta that fail to strike deals with local news publishers, the administration of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, and biosecurity restrictions on American beef, which Australia announced in July would be lifted.
The corporate tax transparency regime enacted by Labor late last year mandates the public disclosure of tax and revenue information for multinationals operating in Australia, including US companies.
“US companies with operations in Australia are deeply concerned that the new PCBCR rules will place them at a significant competitive disadvantage as it will force them to publicly disclose commercially sensitive business information, including number of employees, assets, revenues, profits and taxes paid globally,” the business groups said.
“Requiring disclosure of such granular business and financial data could enable competitors to reverse engineer critical business information, including pricing strategies, profit margins, and regional business strategies and performance, thereby undermining commercial confidentiality and long-term competitiveness of these US companies.”
The groups said the Australian Taxation Office already had access to the information privately through confidential country-by-country reporting mechanisms.
“In the spirit of fostering fairness.”
They requested Bessent raise the issue with the Australian government.
“Given these concerns, and in the spirit of fostering fairness to allow US companies to thrive and compete globally, we respectfully urge you to engage with Australian authorities to address that country’s infringement on US companies,” the letter said.
“Again, we are grateful for the Trump Administration’s commitment to a level playing field which allows US companies to compete within a fair international environment and appreciate your consideration of this issue.”
Groups signing the letter were the Investment Company Institute, American Chamber of Commerce in Australia, Information Technology Industry Council, Managed Funds Association, National Association of Manufacturers, National Foreign Trade Council, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association Asset Management Group, US Chamber of Commerce and United States Council for International Business.
Jason Ward, principal analyst for the Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability & Research and a spokesman for the Tax Justice Network Australia, rejected the push from the US business groups.
“It is unfortunate that the these US corporate lobby groups, representing the world’s largest tax dodgers, are making a last-ditch effort to get the Trump administration to oppose Australia’s world-class multinational tax transparency legislation,” he said.
It is clear that most large US multinationals would prefer to keep the scale and location of massive profit shifting out of the public eye.— Jason Ward, Tax Justice Network Australia
“Throughout the extensive period of consultation and debate there has not been any credible evidence put forward to substantiate claims that greater tax transparency will harm the competitiveness of US or any other multinational corporations.
“It is clear that most large US multinationals would prefer to keep the scale and location of massive profit shifting out of the public eye.”
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the issue was one of fairness.
“We want to make sure that multinational corporations pay their fair share of tax. We have a broad and ambitious agenda in that regard,” he said.
“From time to time in the countries, not just that one, raise issues with us
about our multinational tax regime and we work through those issues in
the same considered, methodical, consultative way that we approach a
number of these difficult issues in the budget and the economy more
broadly.”
about our multinational tax regime and we work through those issues in
the same considered, methodical, consultative way that we approach a
number of these difficult issues in the budget and the economy more
broadly.”
The Australia Institute’s chief economist, Greg Jericho, said he was concerned at any attempt to link the tax issue with tariffs.
“This appears an attempt to suggest President Trump should implement more tariffs against Australian companies due to these regulations,” he said.
John Kehoe is economics editor at Parliament House, Canberra. He writes on economics, politics and business. John was Washington correspondent covering Donald Trump’s first election. He joined the Financial Review in 2008 from Treasury. Connect with John on Twitter. Email John at jkehoe@afr.com
