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TARIFF NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN the US and the EU are to begin on Monday.
European Commissioner Maros Sefcovic, responsible for trade between the EU and other countries, will travel to Washington at the weekend to discuss an agreement on tariffs, his spokesperson Olof Gill to RTÉ Radio One’s Today with Claire Byrne.
US President Donald Trump this week paused his global tariffs on steel and aluminium, cars, and a majority of imports from the EU for 90-days after global markets began to plummet after they came into effect earlier that day.
The pause has been welcomed by the EU, whose leaders are seeking to resolve the dispute through negotiations, and the bloc put a similar three-month pause on its reciprocal measures.
While Trump has sought to claim victory over the EU, the European Commission is still none-the-wiser of what exactly the US president wants to achieve from negotiations.
He has previously hit out at a trade imbalance between the two markets.
Gill explained that Sefcovic will attend meetings with his US counterparts in order to determine an agreed pathway to avoid tariffs – which would have devastating impacts on the European economy and trade relationship with the US.
“President Trump brands himself as the master of the art of the deal, but we think we’re quite good at the art of the deal on this side of the Atlantic too,” Gill said.
“We have the largest network of trade agreements of anyone in the world, with 44 deals covering 76 countries.”
“Countries are lining up to do deals with us,” he said – citing fresh talks between the European Commission and the United Arab Emirates, which started yesterday.
“We have plenty to offer, and we’re ready to talk,” he added.
Speaking in Warsaw, where European finance ministers are meeting to discuss the latest on internal and european economies, finance minister Paschal Donohoe said the group has agreed to have a “unified approach” to the talks.
Donohoe, who is also the president of finance ministers in the Eurozone, said every EU country’s minister has agreed to support the work of the commission and keep in contact about how economic “shifts” will impact their individual economies.
Remarkably, the Fine Gael minister insinuated that while the Eurogroup will support the European Commission in negotiations, the politicians will continue make sure that any potential countermeasures protect member states’ individual economies.
Donohoe said: “[There was] continued agreement on the appropriate policy mix on the Euro area that responds back, protects and adjusts within our economies, but also safeguards the long-term strength of the Euro.”
It comes following a successful round of lobbying by Ireland, Italy and France to remove alcohol from a list of countermeasures to US tariffs on European steel and aluminum that were issued last week before shortly being paused after Trump’s announcement.
Speaking in Athlone, Tánaiste and trade minister Simon Harris said any “tit-for-tat” measures introduced by the EU or US “cannot be good for the global economy”.
He added: “It is really important that we utilise this pause and put it to good use, put it to work for the people who, right across this country, right across Europe and right across America are saying ‘Will you ever get on with it?’
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