Simon Harris calls for Trump's 90-day tariff pause not to be extended
Tánaiste Simon Harris has appealed to US President Donald Trump not to extend his 90-day tariff pause beyond July 9.
He stated that an extension would only create uncertainty and that a deal must be reached before the deadline.
In April, President Trump confirmed that all goods entering the US from the EU would be slapped with a 20 per cent tariff.
Days later, he confirmed that a 90-day pause would be implemented to allow countries time to negotiate with the US. This pause is due to end on July 9.
Halfway through the pause, President Trump announced he was placing a 50 per cent tariff on the EU as negotiations were 'going nowhere'. However, this pause was later reinstated.
On Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt hinted that President Trump may extend his upcoming self-imposed deadlines, stating that the date 'is not critical'.
However, Mr Harris, who is also the Trade Minister, said that a delay would not be a positive development and would cause more concern.
The Tánaiste said: 'I heard overnight some comments from the White House press secretary that President Trump might consider extending the deadline beyond July 9.
'On one level, people might say that's a positive. I don't see it as such.
'We need to work really intensively to try and get a deal, at least a framework deal, in advance of July 9, for one very big reason – Uncertainty.
'Uncertainty is causing people to pause their investment decisions. That has an impact on jobs.
'There's people in factories today in Ireland who want that certainty. Businesses want certainty.
'What we don't need is an elongation of the period of uncertainty. I'd really encourage everybody not to consider, at this moment in time, extensions of deadlines, but actually consider how we can get an agreement in place by the deadline.'
Mr Harris said Ireland wants to see an agreement struck between the US and the EU and appealed to both sides to 'intensify' efforts to get a deal done before the July 9 deadline.
He said he believes an agreement is "possible".
He continued: 'In fact, I believe an agreement is absolutely essential because the level of trade between the US and the EU is far too high to be sniffed at.
'Regardless of who the occupant of the Oval Office is, we are interdependent.
"And certainly in my conversations with President Trump's Trade Representative, Ambassador Jamieson Greer, I specifically made the case that we need to come up with creative solutions in relation to the pharma industry that are good for the US and good for the EU because our global supply chains are interdependent, patients depend on it and, actually, Ireland and the European Union can assist in making sure that US pharma companies have access to a very large market of 460 million consumers in the European Union.'
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