There is a “window for negotiation” before tariffs on steel imports announced by the US kick in next month, Tánaiste Simon Harris has said.
Trade ministers from the 27 European Union states held a video call to discuss the impact of looming tariffs, which US president Donald Trump intends to put on steel and aluminium coming into the US from abroad.
The 25 per cent import duties are due to kick in on March 12th, hitting traditional US allies such as Canada, Europe and others.
Mr Harris, who is also Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, attended the video conference of EU counterparts organised on Wednesday. In a statement afterwards, he said Ireland was keenly aware of the “perils” of further escalation.
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The European Commission – the EU’s executive arm responsible for trade policy – is expected to try to cut a deal with the White House to potentially suspend the measures or avoid more sweeping tariffs on a wider range of exports to the US.
Commission officials are also believed to have drawn up contingency plans to hit back with retaliatory tariffs on US goods if necessary.
“It was encouraging to hear about the engagement with the US that has started and to know that further meetings are planned. There is a window for negotiation ahead of the 12 March deadline,” Mr Harris said.
“We consider that it is in our collective interests that we seek to work with the new administration and to highlight the powerful, mutual benefit of the transatlantic relationship,” the Fine Gael leader said.
Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said he hoped “a very significant trade dispute” with the US could still be avoided. Any escalating towards a US-EU trade war would have “a really big effect on the performance of the global economy,” he said.
Speaking in Dublin, Mr Donohoe said the Irish message to the US would be the same as the European message, that trade has played a role in making the US and EU economies richer and increased employment and incomes.
Mr Donohoe added: “While of course Europe will have to respond to any measures that are taken through tariffs that adversely affect our exports...we are better off engaging with each other and negotiating with each other to try to reach outcomes that are mutually beneficial.”
Asked about the potential for outcomes like the 30-day delays on tariffs that Mr Trump announced on Canadian and Mexican goods, Mr Donohoe said that such headroom “will only become apparent as negotiation and engagement between the European Union and the US actually takes place.”
Mr Donohoe said part of the issue was a trade imbalance the US perceived it had with Europe. “If there’s opportunities for that to be balanced in more natural ways through the purchase of goods and services from America then that’s something that will be considered,” he said.
European commissioner for trade Maroš Šefčovič dialled into the virtual meeting of EU trade ministers to outline the thinking in the commission. One option previously floated was a plan for the EU to offer to buy more liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US, as a sweetener to Mr Trump.
Two diplomatic sources said there was a consensus from the meeting that EU states needed to stick together and back the commission’s response.
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