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Ireland won’t raise tariff hit with France
FINANCE Minister Paschal Donohoe said he lobbied the White House over US tariffs slapped on Irish dairy imports, but not the EU governments whose support for aeroplane maker Airbus is behind the dispute.
The minister said he raised the impact of the tariffs directly at the White House with Mick Mulvaney, Donald Trump’s acting chief of staff. An anticipated hit to Irish whiskey products had been avoided, he said.
However, Irish butter, including Kerrygold, which is popular in the US, and cream liqueurs like Baileys were slapped with a 25pc import tax in October, as part of a wider US action against European imports in retaliation for support provided by governments to Airbus that the US claims hurt its aviation sector.
The World Trade Organisation this week dismissed EU claims the subsidies had been removed, prompting the US to threaten increased tariffs.
Minister Donohoe said he intends to raise the issue at European level with new EU trade commissioner Phil Hogan, but not with member states, including France, found to be supporting Airbus.
He said: “My judgement at the moment is the best and only way this will be alleviated is through commissioner Hogan.”
Meanwhile, the EU yesterday said it was ready to retaliate if Mr Trump imposed duties of up to 100pc on imports of champagne, handbags and other French products worth $2.4bn (€2.16bn) in a row over France’s new digital services tax.