Harris holds call with ‘tax scam’ critic in US administration

Ireland’s deputy premier has held a phone call with the US Secretary of Commerce, a major critic of the trade imbalance between the two countries.

Simon Harris described the call with Secretary Howard Lutnick as a “useful opportunity to exchange views”.

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”.

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.

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 its 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 US President Donald 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 euro (£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, he said Mr Trump seems determined to introduce further tariffs

“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.”