Harris discussed Irish surplus with US critic who got figure wrong – spokesman

Ireland’s deputy premier outlined details of the country’s 25 billion euro surplus to the US secretary of commerce, an Irish Government spokesman said, after the key critic within the Trump administration claimed it was 60 billion.

Simon Harris held a late-night call with Howard Lutnick, which the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade described as a “useful opportunity to exchange views”.

Speaking on the All-In Podcast last week, Mr Lutnick said Ireland is running a 60 billion-euro surplus.

The reality is that the country’s surplus is closer to half that amount.

Asked if Mr Harris had corrected Mr Lutnick on this figure, a spokesman said: “The Tanaiste (deputy premier) set out the position of Ireland’s perspective and laid out some of the details of Ireland’s surplus, for example, but also the two-way economic relationship.”

Pressed on whether this included a clarification on the budget surplus figure, the spokesman said he had nothing further to add to a statement on the call which had been issued earlier.

The read-out does not say whether the budget surplus was discussed.

Mr Harris was previously scrutinised over a separate occasion in which he publicly diverged from an official US account of a diplomatic phone call.

Earlier this month, he said a trade imbalance between the US and Ireland was “not specifically referenced” in his call with US secretary of state Marco Rubio.

Mr Harris’s account aligned with a readout from the Irish Government about that phone call, which referenced investment in the US but did not mention the trade imbalance.

This appeared to contradict comments from a spokeswoman for Mr Rubio, who said he had discussed “the US priority to address the US-Ireland trade imbalance” with the Irish deputy premier.

The US State Department later refused to clarify whether or not the trade imbalance had in fact been directly discussed.

However, the discrepancy between Mr Harris’s public comments and the US’s official account of the call caused heightened anxiety around Taoiseach Micheal Martin’s meeting with President Donald Trump the following week.

In the intervening period, the trade dispute with the US and EU which is expected to have a significant impact on Ireland’s economy has escalated.

The US Department of Commerce has not published a statement on the phone call, which is understood to have lasted approximately 20 minutes.

The call came amid heightened anxiety about the impact of an escalating tariff dispute between the EU and US.

There is concern in Ireland that the new US administration’s protectionist approach could pose a risk to an Irish economy which is significantly sustained by long-standing investment from US multinationals.

Mr Lutnick has previously described Ireland as his favourite “tax scam”.

He has also said on social media that it is “nonsense that Ireland of all places runs a trade surplus at our expense”.

Speaking on the All-In Podcast last week, Mr Lutnick said: “We’re going to try and fix a whole bunch of these tax scams – Ireland is my favourite.”

He added: “What do they do? Oh, they have all of our (intellectual property) for all our great tech companies and great pharma companies.

“They all put it there because it’s low tax. They don’t pay us, they pay them – so that is going to end.”

Speaking to reporters about Monday’s late-night call, Mr Harris said: “It was an opportunity for me to begin to develop an interpersonal relationship with the man who is going to head up the Commerce Department for President Trump.

“It provided us with an opportunity to exchange views in relation to trade, in relation to tariffs, in relation to the transatlantic relationship and the economic relationship between Ireland and the United States.”

Mr Harris said he expressed how Ireland had implemented changes to its corporate tax regime.

The Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade added: “We’ve agreed to keep in touch, have close contact and to meet in person shortly.”

The Irish Government believes it is highly likely that Mr Trump will proceed with further tariffs on the EU on April 2.

The EU has delayed until mid-April its countermeasures to the Trump administration’s increase in tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports to 25% – which was introduced earlier this month.

Europe had intended to implement measures on goods from the US worth some 26 billion euros (£21.5 billion) in two phases, on April 1 and April 13.

The tariffs, now delayed until mid-April, were to include steel and aluminium, as well as goods such as bourbon.

Mr Trump had announced plans to impose further reciprocal tariffs on April 2.

In the Irish context, Mr Harris had previously said that it would “make sense” for the EU to review the rationale behind which items it had chosen on its countermeasures list.

Ireland’s Government regards the threat of the US responding by imposing a tariff on alcoholic drinks from the EU as a “very serious issue”, as the Irish drinks sector could be massively impacted by such an escalation.

Mr Harris convened a sitting of the Irish Government’s Trade Forum on Friday which was focused on the potential impact of the tariffs.

He welcomed the delay in implementation of EU countermeasures until the middle of April, adding: “I hope that that time can be used for intensive, sensible, calm negotiation to find a way forward, because at the end of the day tariffs are bad for consumers and the US-EU relationship economically is so interdependent.”

However, Mr Harris said Mr Trump seems determined to introduce further tariffs

He said: “I think that’s really regrettable. We’d much rather have talks before tariffs, it seems the United States wants to have tariffs before talks.

“We think that approach is wrong but we have to control what we can control. So we continue to make the case for engagement now.”