Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The most important thing we can all do in Ireland and the EU, and indeed around the world, is to stay calm and measured. Often after a headline announcement by the US Administration, you have to work through the detail. Given that the misinformation has started, we need to make the point very clearly that Europe does not want tariffs but talks. We want representatives of the European Union and the United States to sit down around a table and find a way that is good for the EU, including Ireland, and the US. That is ultimately where this is going to have to get to because the trading relationship is worth about €1.6 trillion per year. No matter who the President of the United States is or who is in government in any European country, this relationship matters to citizens on both sides of the Atlantic.

Second, at domestic level we are bringing together industry and Government agencies and Departments. I will chair the Government trade forum, which includes industry, on Friday.

Third, the Deputy is so right in suggesting that while EU trade is an EU competency, we are in the EU and around the table. What we all need to do is engage, engage, engage. I will be attending a meeting of EU trade ministers on Monday in Luxembourg, where we will have an opportunity to consider this further.

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