EU countries ‘still stand ready’ to negotiate trade with US, McGrath says

By Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA

EU commissioner Michael McGrath has said the bloc’s countries “still stand ready” to negotiate with the US.

The Commissioner for Justice, Rule of Law and Consumer Protection also said that the EU needed to respond and “create an incentive for the US to get around the table with us”.

The leaders of EU countries are due to vote on Tuesday on a package of counter measures responding to US tariffs on steel and aluminium already in effect.

A 20 per cent import tax will be slapped on EU goods on Wednesday as part of a major tariff announcement by US President Donald Trump last week.

The announcement has caused turmoil in the global markets as trading norms built up over decades are disrupted.

Mr McGrath said that the value of EU goods being hit by additional US tariffs is €380 billion, generating €80 billion in revenue for the US, up from the “normal” value of €7 billion.

“Our strong preference is for negotiations with the US, we still stand ready to negotiate,” he told Newstalk Breakfast on Tuesday.

“We do wish to negotiate, it is our preference because we recognise that everyone loses when it comes to a trade war and the imposition of tariffs.”

As part of the EU’s counter measures, €26 billion worth of US goods would have been targeted to match the damage by US tariffs on steel and aluminium, Mr McGrath said.

“We have listened to member states so the figure will be somewhat less than that, but it is only the first response and there will be a further response in the event of negotiations failing.”

He said he needed to defend the interests of the EU and there was a need to create an incentive to pursue negotiations.

“The EU does need to respond in the absence of meaningful negotiations because the tariffs that have been imposed to date, and the 20 per cent tariffs that kick in tomorrow, are wholly unjustified.

“There is no rational basis for them.

“The EU-US trade relationship is broadly balanced.

“Yes the EU has a surplus in goods, that is almost matched by the US surplus in service exports to the EU.

“So the net position is less than €50 billion of a trade surplus in favour of the EU in the context of an annual trade relationship of €1.6 trillion, so that is around 3 per cent of the overall value of trade.

“The EU has to respond to that and will respond in the event of negotiations failing.

“But we really want to avoid that scenario, because everybody loses.”