Minister Byrne to attend Informal Foreign Affairs Council on Trade

Today, Tuesday 14 October, as part of the Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Minister of State for European Affairs and Defence, Thomas Byrne TD, will take part in an informal meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council on Trade in Horsens, Denmark.

The meeting follows the EU-US Joint Statement in August underpinning the new transatlantic trade and investment relationship.

Speaking before the meeting, Minister Byrne said: “While we never wanted any US tariffs, I believe we can say that the best deal available was secured and we avoided a harmful escalation. For Ireland and the EU, the focus is now on the faithful implementation of the EU-US Joint Statement. I will be discussing this with Ministers today, as well as making the case for key Irish industries, such as medtech and spirits to be exempt from the higher tariffs.”

Other items on the agenda include a discussion on the trade aspects of economic security and ongoing bilateral trade negotiations.

Minister Byrne said: “The world is rapidly changing and we must secure our country and the EU’s competitiveness. Furthermore, now more than ever we need to expand our trade agreements and diversify our markets. I am looking forward to a discussion on our ambitious trade agenda with new partners right around the globe. Of course, in doing so we must maintain EU standards on food safety, animal and plant health, as well as remain faithful to our European values of supporting better environmental and human rights standards around the world.”

On Monday evening, prior to the meeting, Minister Byrne attended the dinner also joined by the WTO Director General, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Minister Byrne said: “The dinner last night was a welcome opportunity to continue the discussions on the critical need for WTO reform and to hear directly from Dr Ngozi. The WTO rules provide the guardrails for international trade and the multilateral rules based system. We need that system to be able to address modern trade challenges now more than ever.”