US President Donald Trump will host Taoiseach Micheál Martin in the White House today.
Mr Trump will be presented with a bowl of shamrock as the centrepiece of the government’s major overseas diplomatic push in the run-up to St Patrick’s Day.
Mr Martin said that a “two-way street” of investment is something he intends to highlight in his discussions with Mr Trump in a bid to address concerns he may voice around a trade imbalance between the two countries.
The Taoiseach expects to spend a large part of the meeting discussing economic matters with the president, who has spoken out against Ireland’s large goods trade surplus with the US, and has questioned why so many medicines made in Ireland for the US market are not made in the US.
A 25% tariff on all steel and aluminium tariffs has taken effect in the United States.
The European Union retaliated by saying it will impose counter tariffs on €26 billion ($28bn) worth of US goods from next month, ramping up the global trade war.
An article on the visit of the Taoiseach in today’s edition of the Wall Street Journal says Ireland has the fourth biggest trade surplus of any country in the world – after China, Mexico and Vietnam.
Ireland is the EU country with the biggest trade surplus with the US at $85 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.
