US hopeful of a trade truce from EU talks

WHITE House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said yesterday that the United States and the European Union were making strong progress in trade talks and could announce some agreements within the next month.

“We’re breaking ground,” Mr Kudlow said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.

“We will have a number of announcements coming up, I hope, in the next 30 or so days with respect to transactions and market opening and increased investments with the European Union.”

The news comes after a survey of Irish businesses this week found that the imposition of tariffs is already starting to feed through to some firms in Ireland in the form of higher costs.

Meanwhile, China yesterday announced retaliatory tariffs on $60bn (€51bn) worth of US goods, ranging from liquefied natural gas to some aircraft and warned of further measures, signalling that it won’t back down in a protracted trade war.

The Trump administration ratcheted up pressure for trade concessions from Beijing this week by proposing a higher 25pc tariff on $200bn worth of Chinese imports.

China immediately vowed to retaliate though at the same time urged the US to act rationally and return to talks to resolve the dispute.

The United States and China implemented tariffs on $34bn worth of each others’ goods in July. Washington is expected to soon implement more tariffs on $16bn worth of additional Chinese goods, which China has already announced it will match immediately.

Representatives for the White House and the US Commerce Department did not immediately reply to a request for comment on China’s retaliatory move.

“The US side has repeatedly escalated the situation against

‘We will have announcements, I hope, in the next 30 or so days’

the interests of both enterprises and consumers,” the Chinese Commerce Ministry said in its statement. “China has to take necessary countermeasures to defend its dignity and the interests of its people.”

Among US products targeted were a wide range of agricultural and energy products such as beef and liquefied natural gas.

The inclusion of gas marks a deployment by Beijing of one of its last major weapons from its energy and commodities arsenal in its fight with Washington.

The market is not large by value compared with the around $12bn per year of US crude that arrives in the country, but could shoot up as Beijing switches millions of households away from coal to battle smog (Reuters).