Šefčovič travelling to Washington to 'clear up' US aims from tariffs - Gill

European Commission Olof Gill confirmed that the European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, Maroš Šefčovič, will travel to Washington this weekend ahead of "meetings with his counterparts on Monday".

"Let's see how those meetings go, we hope that we're now in a new space where we might actually be able to see some forward motion and some real progress in our talks with the US," Mr Gill said.

Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne, he added it wasn't "entirely clear, to be honest" what the Americans are asking for or want and is part of the reason Mr Šefčovič is going to Washington.

A big part of this "is trying to understand precisely what the outcome the Amercians want to achieve is", he said.

"I don't think it's been particularly clear up to this point what that ultimate outcome they want is," Mr Gill said.

He added: "Because if they could tell us that in a clear way, then we could say, potentially, we could work backwards from there and say okay maybe we can help you on this, maybe we can help you on that.

"We're in the business of striking deals - President Trump brands himself as the master of the art of the deal, but we think we're quite good at the art of the deal on this side of the Atlantic too.

"We have the largest network of trade agreements of anyone in the world, 44 deals covering 76 countries and countries are lining up to do deals with us [EU]...so we have plenty to offer and we are ready to talk."