A group of 136 countries on Friday set a minimum global tax rate of 15 percent for big companies. Negotiations have been going on for four years and while the costs of the coronavirus pandemic gave them additional impetus in recent months, a deal was only agreed upon when Ireland, Estonia, and Hungary dropped their opposition and signed up. Moreover, the 15 percent floor agreed is well below a corporate tax rate that averages around 23.5 percent in industrialized countries. “Establishing, for the first time in history, a strong global minimum tax will finally even the playing field for American workers and taxpayers, along with the rest of the world,” Biden said in a statement. The deal aims to stop large firms booking profits in low-tax countries such as Ireland regardless of where their clients are Out of the 140 countries involved, 136 supported the deal, with Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, …