Tánaiste Simon Harris will tell US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick in the US today Ireland and the EU are willing to find a solution to the escalating trade crisis.
Mr Harris has travelled to Washington, DC, for a meeting with Donald Trump’s commerce secretary days after the US slapped “reciprocal” tariffs of 20 per cent on EU imports.
It the highest level meeting between the Irish and US governments since Mr Trump set out his aggressive protectionist policy a week ago in a move that has rattled global stock markets.
Mr Lutnick has repeatedly singled out Ireland and the Irish corporate tax regime as the “favourite” of what he calls “tax scams”, arguing that Ireland taxes US pharmaceutical and technology multinationals on their intellectual property (IP) rights at a low rate, at the expense of the United States.
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“We are here to keep the lines of communications open with US political and business leaders as well as share insights and engage,” Mr Harris said after arriving in the US.
The Fine Gael leader said in his meetings in Washington he would be “emphasising our desire to find a negotiated solution between the EU and US on tariffs.
“The European Union is ready right now to negotiate. We have a team on standby to travel to DC to begin negotiations between the EU and the US to find a way forward.”
After arriving in Washington on Tuesday afternoon, Mr Harris met the Democrat senator from Maryland, Chris van Hollen.
In addition to his key meeting with Mr Lutnick, he will also meet with Mike Lawler, the Republican congressman for New York, and Republican senator for Tennessee Billy Hagerty as well as members of the Friends of Ireland caucus.
[ Trump says no pause to tariffs and urges EU to buy ‘beautiful’ US energyOpens in new window ]
Part of the purpose of the visit is to reiterate the message that both Taoiseach Micheál Martin and the Tánaiste emphasised during the 10-day multi-city and state visit to mark the annual St Patrick’s celebrations.
[ Trump tariffs crisis: The three key issues the Irish Government now facesOpens in new window ]
Mr Harris will hope to impress upon Mr Lutnick the mutually beneficial economic relationship between the US and Ireland as well as reiterating Ireland’s investment in the US economy.
“In a complex and unpredictable global economic environment, direct bilateral engagement with the United States is one of my priorities,” he said.
Mr Harris said he hoped the trip will provide an opportunity to “gain further insight into the administration’s thinking on their next steps”.
Hints of the ongoing internal tensions among the Trump administration over the issue again spilt into the social media sphere on Tuesday.
Mr Trump’s special adviser, billionaire Elon Musk, described trade adviser Peter Navarro – a key architect of the tariff policy – as “truly a moron”, in response to Mr Navarro’s claim that Mr Musk, through his carmaker Tesla, was a “car assembler”.
