EY Cross-Border Taxation Spotlight for Week ending 28 March 2025

·34 min·3 clips

Congressional leaders meet to shape a tax bill extension as President Trump announces 25% auto tariffs effective April 2025.

The episode begins with a news segment outlining recent U.S. political and trade developments relevant to international tax. Congressional Republican leaders, Treasury Secretary Scott Besant, and National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett met on March 25 to discuss the budget reconciliation process and a future tax bill to extend provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. President Trump announced 25% additional tariffs on automobile and auto part imports, effective April 3, 2025. The House Ways and Means Committee reintroduced the Unfair Tax Prevention Act on March 27. The IRS also issued its 26th Annual Advance Pricing Agreement Report, noting 142 APAs finalized in 2024. The episode then transitions to a panel discussion moderated by Kelly Stahls on how Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives impact global value chains. Panelist Alenka Turnsek, EY Global Tax Sustainability Policy Leader, outlines the current regulatory landscape, highlighting five government policy areas: climate policy/GHG reductions, circular economy, biodiversity, pollution minimization, and lifestyle changes. She details three impactful EU regulations: the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), the Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), and the Eco-Design for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR). Sebastian Kuiper, an EY partner in Transfer Pricing, explains how new business models like circularity and servitization (shifting from selling products to providing services) reshape value chains, affecting physical, digital, and legal flows, which in turn create new tax and transfer pricing considerations. Alenka then discusses major incentives, including the EU's over 1 trillion euro Green Deal funding and the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act's nearly $400 billion, noting how these influence global investment flows. Sebastian addresses sustainable sourcing, explaining how it adds environmental, social, and governance dimensions to procurement, impacting centralization decisions and requiring traceability technologies. Sidney Rauenhorst, Global Director of Indirect Tax at Trivium Packaging, provides real-world examples, describing Trivium's size (3 billion USD revenue, 60+ locations), its platinum sustainability rating, and specific initiatives like using electric forklifts and aiming for 100% renewable energy by 2030. She details the company's preparation for CBAM compliance, highlighting the tax function's leading role in assessment and collaboration with procurement and sustainability teams. The panel concludes by emphasizing the need for cross-functional collaboration and the unexpected but significant impact of ESG on tax careers.

As heard by us

Capitol Hill timing, tariffs, and the operating model sit in the same frame.

The episode follows the push for a budget reconciliation tax bill and the March 26 White House proclamation that announced 25 percent additional tariffs on automobiles and automobile parts.

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Why you'd press play

When budget reconciliation and auto tariffs land in the same week, your spreadsheet gets louder than your calendar.

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