Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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222. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he plans trade missions to the USA in 2025 and any being planned this year; and if so, when and the location. [16613/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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My Department and its network of missions across the United States play an important role in promoting the dynamic and mutually beneficial economic relationship between Ireland and the United States.

This is a time of significant turbulence for the global trading environment. My views on tariffs are clear and on the record. I continue to attach the highest priority to our work to protect and deepen Ireland’s economic relationship with the United States.

During my recent visit New York and Philadelphia, I placed a particular focus on strategic economic engagement. No less than 9 Ministers led impactful programmes across the United States, with a considerable economic focus through, during the Saint Patrick’s Day period, as an important platform to promote Ireland's trade and economic interests, in particular in the United States.

Trade Missions are a similarly important platform. Even in these challenging times, there are still growth opportunities for Irish companies in the Unites States. My department works closely with the relevant Minister, Departments and State Agencies to maximise the impact of economic engagement generally, and trade missions in particular, to the United States.

My colleague Martin Heydon TD, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, is currently leading an agriculture focused trade mission to Washington D.C., Kentucky and Illinois in April. Minister for Enterprise, tourism and Employment, Peter Burke TD is planning to undertake a Trade Mission to the Midwest in May and expects to take in the States of Illinois, Indiana, and Minnesota. I will be in Washington this week, and will have a number of meetings focused on trade and economic issues, as well as issues related to Northern Ireland and to wider foreign policy priorities.