TÁNAISTE SIMON HARRIS has said Ireland and the EU should not get involved in a “tit for tat” tariff war with US president Donald Trump after he imposed 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.

Harris also discussed plans for St Patrick’s Day trips to 14 US cities, with the Fine Gael leader telling reporters that New York City and Philadelphia are on his travel list.

“I think it’s important that we’re calm and mature in terms of how we respond to these matters. The last thing we need is tit for tat tariffs,” he said outside Government Buildings this morning.

He added that while Ireland is “not directly greatly exposed” in relation to these latest tariffs, he said that may have a “knock on offense on the Irish economy” as well.

Harris said that the Government must “explore how we can proactively engage with the United States administration to really make the point that free trade between the European Union and the US isn’t just good for people in Europe, it’s good for the many millions of people who voted for President Trump”.

He added: “If you take just the Irish context, the top 10 Irish companies in the United States have created 115,000 jobs, jobs in every one of the 50 states of the US.”

Separately, Harris will take part in a virtual meeting of EU Trade Ministers and Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovičto today to discuss EU-US Trade Relations.

Trade Ministers will take stock of the US Executive Order signed on 10 February placing a 25% duty on steel and aluminium imports to begin on 12 March.

This meeting will be an opportunity to put forward Ireland’s views on the current trade situation and to listen to the views of the other countries on how they may be affected and how the EU should respond.

It is understood that Ireland will state that it agrees with Commissioner Šefčovič that retaliation should not be the EU’s preferred scenario and is supportive of the Commission’s ongoing engagement with the US, while recognising that it is necessary for the EU to respond in a firm and proportionate way.

With reporting by Christina Finn