Ireland's Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Simon Harris set out “some of the detail” on Ireland’s economic surplus in a call with US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, who last week vowed to bring Ireland’s “tax scam” to an end.
Mr. Lutnick, a former investment banker and a key ally of US President Donald Trump, highlighted the prevalence of US pharmaceutical and tech firms operating here, and seemed to refer to our 12.5% corporation tax rate – which is among the world’s lowest.
He falsely claimed Ireland enjoys a €60bn trade surplus with the US, saying “that’s got to end."
Recent figures from the CSO show that while Ireland had a trade surplus in goods of €70bn last year, it has a deficit of €163bn when it comes to services, amounting to an overall deficit of €93bn.
The Tánaiste and Trade Minister spoke to Mr. Lutnick for the first time since his comments on the trade deficit late on Monday night.
A readout of the call said the pair “exchanged views on trade policy and the transatlantic economic relationship.”
Asked if Mr. Harris had corrected Mr. Lutnick’s incorrect claims about Ireland’s surplus, a spokesman for the Tánaiste initially said: “I have nothing to say beyond the read-out.”
Pressed on whether Mr. Harris had stood up for Ireland’s interests at all, he said: “The Tánaiste set out the position of Ireland’s perspective and laid out some of the detail of Ireland’s surplus, for example, and set out the two-way economic relationship that exists between the two countries.”
He also said he was not aware of any engagement with US commerce officials ahead of time to agree that the read-outs from both sides would be the same.
He said there was not a worry that the read-outs would be different.
“He was keen to engage with Lutnick on this matter. It was a constructive engagement,” the spokesman said.
Earlier this month, Mr. Harris contradicted the American version of events following his phone call with Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State.
The Americans had indicated in their official version of the call that trade imbalances had been discussed.
Mr. Harris said this had not happened, causing a diplomatic incident in the week before Micheál Martin travelled to the White House to meet Donald Trump to mark St. Patrick’s Day.
The call came amid heightened anxiety about the impact of an escalating tariff dispute between the EU and the US, which Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has said could cost 80,000 Irish jobs.
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 IP (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.
He said: “We’ve agreed to keep in touch, have close contact and to meet in person shortly.”
*This article was originally published on BusinessPlus.ie.
Comments