Irish Foreign Minister Simon Harris said on Monday in Brussels that it would benefit the U.S. if it did business with the European Union (EU) member countries.
Harris said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) ahead of the meeting of the foreign ministers of member countries of the EU.
The meeting is to discuss Ukraine, EU-U.S. relations, and the situation in the Middle East.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday vowed to hit the EU with tariffs and said his administration was discussing a 10 per cent punitive duty on Chinese imports because fentanyl is being sent from China to the U.S. via Mexico and Canada.
Trump voiced his latest tariff threats in remarks to reporters at the White House a day after taking office without immediately imposing tariffs as he had promised during his campaign.
Trump said the EU and other countries also had troubling trade surpluses with the United States.
“So they’re going to be in for tariffs. It’s the only way … you’re going to get fairness,” he said.
But the Irish foreign minister said that Trump as the democratically elected president of the U.S. “will decide the direction of his country for the next four years, and certainly with his party, the Republicans, in control of both houses of Congress, he would be able to do that.
“That is the reality with which the EU as a bloc finds itself. I think Europe should not just become a multilateral organisation discussing President Trump.
“We should also talk about what we are going to do ourselves.
“We are not just commentators on the outcomes of other people’s elections. We are the EU and there are hundreds of millions of us.
“There are 27 countries in the EU, and we must now control what we can control, which means the implementation of the Draghi Report.
“It means the implementation of Letta’s recommendations.
“It means carving out the proper time, bandwidth, space, and capacity in the commission to return to issues such as competitors and it means engaging with Trump.
“In a way, I think it relates to the benefits to the U.S of doing business with the European Union and member states of the bloc,” he said.
Harris affirmed that his country is prepared to do business with the Trump administration as “it has done with every U.S. administration.”
He noted that there would always be challenges “but we’ve got to control what we can control, and that’s why I want to meet the Trade Commissioner.
“I think it is essential that there’s an early engagement between the EU and the U.S. I called for that during my time as a member of the European Council, and I reiterate that today.
“And I also very much welcome the fact that the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, will be invited to participate or to either zoom in or meet us in person at a Foreign Affairs Council at an early date.
“I think that will be a very welcome development,” he said. (NAN)
