Germany fears US rejection of transaction tax

The US may not join international efforts to tax financial transactions, leaving Europe to go it alone, German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said in an interview released on Saturday.

If a transaction tax is not agreed globally at the G20 Summit in June, European Union countries would move to come up with a solution on their own, Schaeuble said in an advance extract from an article due to appear in Sunday's Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

"I fear the Americans do not want a financial transaction tax... If not, the German government will move for a European solution," he said.