French president Emmanuel Macron is not going to discuss the impact of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca) with US president Joe Biden, International Adviser understands.
On 28 November 2022, IA reported that president of the Association of Accidental Americans (AAA) Fabien Lehagre received confirmation from Walid Fouque, Macron’s adviser on the US, that the French president was going to bring up Fatca with president Biden as he “wishes to progress” on the issue and its impact on French-US dual nationals.
He was supposedly going to raise the topic during his visit to Washington in early December 2022.
But it now seems that any discussion regarding Fatca is off the table.
US expats and ’accidental’ Americans took to social media to express their frustration with Macron’s U-turn.
Some criticised him for “bowing down” to the Unites States, while others took the occasion to reiterate their conviction that citizenship-based taxation should be put to an end.
In a LinkedIn post, the AAA’s Lehagre said: “Despite a positive response last week from president Macron’s adviser, the subject of accidental Americans and Fatca will not be on the agenda during the next state visit.
“This is a great disappointment for the 40,000 French citizens [who have been] severely impacted for eight years by the extraterritoriality of the American legislation and who counted on the support of their president to defend and represent them.
“Another missed opportunity.”
