Minister to travel to US for negotiations on tariffs
Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon has said he will lead a “full trade mission to the United States” next month.
It comes after US President Donald Trump increased tariffs on certain EU goods and threatened further action.
Mr Trump threatened to impose a 200% tariff on wine, cognac and other alcohol imports from Europe, after increasing levies on all steel and aluminum imports from the bloc.
Mr Heydon said he will attend “a number of significant political meetings in the first week in April” during the trade mission.
“The story I’m telling is of Irish food companies who are based in America who employ American people,” he said, adding that 200,000 American people are employed by 770 Irish companies.
“That’s why when I travel to a number of different states, I’ll be highlighting that level of investment that Irish companies make there,” he said.
“I will be using my position to articulate the impact that this could have, particularly in relation to Irish products that could get caught up in this.”
The minister said there is “a lot of concern” in the agri-food and whiskey exports sector in the wake of Mr Trump’s actions.
He added that the trade relationship between the two countries is “very much mutually beneficial”.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Saturday with Colm Ó Mongáin, he said there was no justification for the imposition of tariffs.
“Tariffs hurt everybody, they create inflation, they hurt consumers on both sides.”
He said that after the EU announced its own response to tariffs, there would be time before the change is due to be implemented on 1 April.
He said it was important to negotiate and “to keep on going dialogue open”.
Mr Heydon said that Mr Trump’s announcement of tariffs against Canada and Mexico included “delays”.
“There was engagement, there was opportunities to negotiate, and we very much want to do that,” he said.
Article Source – Minister to travel to US for negotiations on tariffs – RTE
