European Union member states have today (Thursday, July 24) agreed a €93 billion package of countermeasures in the event that trade talks with the US fail.

The EU remains engaged with the US in a bid to avoid 30% tariffs on EU imports which US President Donald Trump has said will be imposed from August 1.

Some reports have suggested that both sides were moving towards a trade deal which would result in a broad 15% tariff rate being applied to EU goods imported into the US.

However, any such agreement would need to be signed off on by President Trump.

The package of countermeasures agreed by EU member states will not come into effect until August 7 and only in the event of no deal being reached with the US by the deadline of August 1.

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Simon Harris TD, said that the EU remains focused on reaching a negotiated deal.

He said the government continues to strongly support EU Commissioner for Trade Maros Sefcovic "in his efforts to strike a deal in the coming days".

“However, throughout the negotiations we have been clear that while we would engage in good faith with the US, it was also necessary to prepare rebalancing measures should negotiations not be successful.

“While we were successful in removing some key Irish sensitivities following intensive consultation with the European Commission, this package of rebalancing measures if implemented would have an adverse effect on European and Irish business," he said.

“However let me be clear, while we do not wish to see this list ever come into effect, the EU must prepare for all eventualities and must be enabled to negotiate with the United States from a position of strength.

“That is why it is now long past time for a deal," Harris added.

The Government’s initial analysis of Ireland’s exposure to the additional €72 billion of imports included on the new consolidated EU list of countermeasures has been reduced by approximately €2.4 billion to €10.2 billion.

The Tánaiste said that nearly €1 billion of the products that have been removed from the list are products that Ireland has a high trade dependency on the US, or where Ireland accounts for a high share of total EU imports from the US.

This represents almost half of the value of sensitive import dependent products, which Ireland specifically requested to be removed.

Furthermore, 30 agri-food products have been removed with a value of €33 million. These include some sensitive products such as pure-bred horses, sugar and molasses and some chocolate products.