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An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that huge potential US tariffs on Irish butter were not discussed during his meeting with President Donald Trump in Shannon Airport.
Responding to a question from the Irish Farmers Journal, Varadkar said that he hoped tariffs would not come into place.
“I hope and trust that no tariffs will be placed on EU goods. I’m a believer in free trade, that it makes us all better off and it creates jobs, it creates wealth so what we need to make sure we do is engage with the European Union on one side and the United States on the other to avoid any new trade barriers,” Varadkar said.
Tensions
An Taoiseach did acknowledge however that certain “tensions” did exist on the issue of trade between the EU and the US.
“An opportunity to talk about trade where there are potential tensions between Europe and America on trade, also China and America but we use this as an opportunity once again that the economic relationship between Ireland and America has changed and it’s now very much a two-way relationship.”
Dairy Industry Ireland have stated they have serious concerns regarding the issue of trade tariffs on butter and Rabobank has stated that Irish butter would be the biggest loser of any EU good if tariffs were put in place.
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