Coronavirus: French lockdown highlights small business struggles

The French government has said it impose a digital tax on online tech giants from next month, despite threats of US retaliation on French imports.

The so-called GAFA tax targets mainly American companies such as Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple and comes amid a long-running tax row with the US.

Amazon has already postponed its annual "Black Friday" discounts in France, under pressure from the government. The coronavirus pandemic has heightened tensions over Amazon's role in the French economy, particularly the sale of books.

French bookshops, which have been badly hit by a second national lockdown, feared losing key pre-Christmas sales if the promotion went ahead as planned on Friday.

The iconic English-language bookshop in Paris, Shakespeare and co, once a hub for writers such as James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway and Simone de Beauvoir, has launched a plea for help.