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Ireland’s Foreign and Trade Minister Simon Harris said on Monday that Europe was committed to resolving trade barriers and improving the economic relationship with the US as he stressed on the need for a negotiated solution and de-escalation of tariffs, The Guardian reported. Harris pointed out the severe economic consequences of these tariffs, not just for the US, Europe, and Ireland, but also for individual citizens.
Harris highlighted European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s desire to address these issues by increasing trade between the two regions. “This is a trading relationship that matters, and Europe has been very clear: we’re up for a deal”, Harris said, according to The Guardian.
He continued, referring to von der Leyen’s efforts to boost trade, “President von der Leyen has talked about wanting to address any of the trade barriers that exist, wanting to buy more stuff from the United States and vice versa. We’re up for a deal.”
“I suppose the outstanding question is, is the United States up for one?” he quipped.
Harris also reportedly said it has become clear to anyone paying attention that tariffs are harmful to economies on both sides of the Atlantic.
“We need to find a negotiated way forward,” Harris said, while calling for a de-escalation of the current trade tensions, warning that the pain caused by tariffs would be felt by ordinary citizens, not just the economies at large.
“The turmoil being seen in global stock markets and global markets is a real indication of the pain that tariffs are causing and will cause, not just to economies in some sort of macro sense, but also to individual citizens in Europe and individual people in the United States of America,” Harris explained.
There have been calls for Europe to impose measures against U.S. tech companies and digital services in retaliation for American tariffs. Harris rejected these suggestions, saying, “If you were to get into that space, it would be an extraordinary escalation at a time when we must be working for a de-escalation.”
“The European Commission, and I believe the overwhelming majority of member states [do not want] to get into tit for tat, it’s not to accept that where we are now is the inevitable outcome, and actually seek to engage and I really think economics is on our side here,” the publication quoted him as saying.
Harris announced he would travel to Washington for further talks with U.S. officials on Tuesday.
