Most of the world's wealthiest countries are on the verge of a historic agreement to clamp down on major corporations that fail to pay their share of taxes, according to French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire following a day of discussions in London on Friday.

Finance ministers from the Group of Seven countries are gathering in person for the first time since the beginning of the COVID epidemic after US President Joe Biden's administration re-energized stalled global tax discussions this year.

For years, rich countries have fought to find a means to collect more revenue from huge multinational corporations such as Google, Amazon, and Facebook, which frequently record profits in jurisdictions wherein they contribute little or no tax.

“We are one inch away from a historic deal,” Le Maire told the BBC after the negotiations ended.

However, significant differences remain on both the minimum rate at which firms should be taxed and how the regulations will be written to ensure that particularly large corporations with weaker profit margins, such as Amazon, suffer greater taxes.

The US has suggested a minimum corporate tax rate of 15%, which is higher than in nations including Ireland but far lower than the G7 average.

According to Le Maire, “this is just a preliminary stage. We want something credible. We still are working on this really difficult rate point.”

The conference is being hosted by British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak, who informed ministers that the rest of the civilized world is watching.

Ministerial delegations have been reduced as a result of COVID regulations because there are fewer visiting journalists. Seating arrangements were modified with the assistance of health experts, and Sunak welcomed leaders by bumping elbows instead of shaking hands.

“We cannot keep relying on a tax structure that was built mostly in the 1920s,” he remarked.

A settlement, according to Le Maire, would send an essential signal that the G7 – the US, Japan, Germany, the UK, France, Italy, and Canada – might still be relevant.

Any agreement would still require significantly broader global support at the G20 conference in Venice in July.

Taro Aso, Japan's finance minister stated on Monday that he does not foresee agreement on a definite minimum tax rate this week.

The US Treasury anticipates a more comprehensive deal once Biden and other leaders of government gather on June 11-13 at a remote seaside resort in southwest England.

The US government has recommended a minimum global corporation tax rate of at least 15%. If a corporation paid tax at a lower rate elsewhere, it would very certainly have to pay top-up taxes.

Biden had planned to hike the top corporate tax rate in the US to as much as 28%. However, to garner Republican backing for additional spending initiatives, he suggested a 15% tax floor after credits and deductions on Thursday, instead of keeping the rate at 21%.

It is equally crucial for the UK and many other nations that firms pay more in taxes wherein they generate their sales rather than where they register profits or maintain their headquarters.

The US sought a conclusion to the digital services taxes imposed by the UK, France, and Italy, which it sees as unjustly targeting U.S. tech firms for tax tactics used by European corporations as well.

If no agreement is reached, British, Italian, and Spanish fashion, cosmetics, and luxury goods exports to the US may face extra 25% tariffs afterward this year.

The US has suggested imposing the new global minimum tax on just the world's 100 largest and most successful corporations.

Britain, Germany, and France are receptive to this strategy, but still want to assure that corporations like Amazon, which has smaller profit margins than other digital businesses, do not slip through the cracks.

The G7 health ministers gathering in Britain on Friday pledged to strengthen coordination in the face of future pandemics and other risks but offered no fresh pledges to accelerate vaccine supply to less-developed nations.

Ministers from the group of affluent nations decided on a new charter to provide worldwide clinical trials of medicines and vaccines during a conference in Oxford, southern England, ahead of next week's G7 summit.

The agreement intends to make it simpler and faster to exchange data from vaccination and therapy experiments to combat Covid-19 and future health challenges, as per a joint statement issued by the ministries.

The agreement should assist to eliminate wasteful duplication of measures and hasten the disposal of ineffective medications, as per the statement.

The ministers additionally agreed to work together on cross-country mutual acceptance of testing and vaccination certifications.

The “landmark agreements,” according to British Health Secretary Matt Hancock, will ensure that the globe is "better equipped for forthcoming threats.”

They include “several actions to keep us all safer by strengthening clinical trials, faster and wider availability of safe vaccinations, better data usage, (and) more precise health surveillance tools,” according to a statement from him.