France is working with Germany and other partners to plugloopholes that have allowed U.S. tech giants like Alphabet Inc.'sGoogle, Apple Inc., Facebook Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. to minimizetaxes and grab market share in Europe at the expense of thecontinent's own companies.

France will propose the “simpler rules” for a “real taxation” oftech firms at a meeting of European Union officials duemid-September in Tallinn, Estonia, French Finance Minister Bruno LeMaire said in an interview in his Paris office on Friday,complaining that Europe-wide initiatives are proving too slow.

“Europe must learn to defend its economic interest much morefirmly—China does it, the U.S. does it,” Le Maire said. “You cannottake the benefit of doing business in France or in Europe withoutpaying the taxes that other companies—French or Europeancompanies—are paying.”