Tánaiste to meet Trump administration officials in US amid tariff uncertainty
James Cox
Tánaiste Simon Harris is set to pay a visit to the US next week as the fallout continues from Donald Trump's 'Liberation Day'.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs will travel to Washington DC, where he is due to attend meetings with US secretary of commerce Howard Lutnick.
It comes days after president Donald Trump slapped the EU with 20 per cent tariffs.
Mr Harris is set to hold trade and wider political talks in Washington. He will hold meetings with a number of figures in the Trump administration and the US Congress.
He believes negotiations between the EU and US will involved "give and take".
Mr Harris has warned that trade relationships are unlikely to go back to the way they were before the so called 'Liberation Day'.
Can our economy manage it? Of course we can.
"I think we are operating in an environment - after having many years, many decades of free trade and globalisation - we're operating in an environment where there's an effort from the United States of America to move to a more protectionist stance, and that will pose challenges.
"Can our economy manage it? Of course we can. Can the European economy manage it? Of course we can. Will it be without challenge? No it won't."
He added that tariffs are already proving to be bad news for the American people.
"We've seen estimates that there's going to be thousands of euro in additional cost put on the average American household as a result of that [tariffs]. So far we've heard president Trump say this is kind of temporary pain for long term gain, we don't believe that to be the case.
"I've yet to hear economic advice or opinion that vindicates that."
While Ireland was not mentioned individually in Mr Trump's tariff announcement, the president has namechecked US pharmaceutical companies based here.
Mr Lutnick, his secretary of commerce, has also mentioned Ireland on several occasions.
Speaking on the All-In Podcast, Mr Lutnick said Ireland is running a €60 billion surplus.
The reality is that the country’s surplus is closer to half that amount.
“We’re going to try and fix a whole bunch of these tax scams – Ireland is my favourite.”
He added: “What do they do? Oh, they have all of our (intellectual property) for all our great tech companies and great pharma companies.
Mr discussed the claims with Mr Lutnick in a call last week.
Asked if Mr Harris had corrected Mr Lutnick on this figure, a spokesman said: “The Tánaiste set out the position of Ireland’s perspective and laid out some of the details of Ireland’s surplus, for example, but also the two-way economic relationship.”
Pressed on whether this included a clarification on the budget surplus figure, the spokesman said he had nothing further to add to a statement on the call which had been issued earlier.
