Donohoe: EU will engage with US in ‘constructive way’ during 90-day tariff pause

By Cate McCurry, PA

The Finance minister has said members of the Eurozone will use the 90-day pause of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs to engage in a “constructive way” with the US.

Paschal Donohoe welcomed Mr Trump’s decision to pause the so-called reciprocal tariffs, saying it will provide the EU with an opportunity to negotiate “an alternative path”.

Mr Donohoe, who is chairing a meeting of the Eurogroup in Warsaw, said the EU will use the weeks ahead to find a better way of dealing with the issues.

He said: “We will respond back at the appropriate point to further trade developments that could take place within the United States.

“We very much welcome the pause that is there at the moment because it provides a window for opportunities.

“But what we will now do is use those 90 days to engage in a constructive way with the United States, to see if we can identify and negotiate an alternative to a path that will lead us all to a world of lower growth, of higher inflation, to many risks to the progress that we’ve made in recent years.

“In Europe we don’t want to see that happen, and we’ll be using the weeks that now await to, I hope, have structured engagement with the United States and find a better way of dealing with all the different issues that are at the heart of this trade.”

Meanwhile, Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers said the escalation between the US and China is “damaging” for the global economy.

He made the comments after China said it will increase its tariffs on US imports to 125 per cent after the US said it would raise tariffs on goods from China.

Speaking in Dublin on Friday, Mr Chambers said it will have “spillover effects” on the European Union.

“The European Union is working to mitigate those in the context of this ongoing period of flux but the wider development of this will undermine global trade,” Mr Chambers said.

“It’ll slow growth, it’ll constrain economic prosperity and undermine living standards globally, particularly with the two major trading blocks in a retaliatory tit-for-tat type of environment.

“It undermines broader trading and investment in global terms, and as an open trading economy in Ireland and indeed the European Union, we will see impacts if this continues to escalate.

“That’s why we want to see the process of pause and negotiation be the central focus for all trading blocks when they’re engaged with the US.”