Finance
China's premier pledges deeper cooperation as Irish PM pushes on beef and dairy
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on January 6, 2026
3 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on January 6, 2026
3 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
China and Ireland aim to boost trade cooperation, focusing on sectors like aircraft leasing and healthcare, amid ongoing EU tensions over tariffs.
By Liz Lee and Shi Bu
BEIJING, Jan 6 (Reuters) - China wants to deepen cooperation with Ireland and broaden trade in sectors including aircraft leasing and healthcare, according to a Chinese state media readout on Tuesday following Premier Li Qiang's meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, who is in Beijing to push for agriculture talks.
Martin's meeting with Li came a day after his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, part of a five-day visit that the Irish leader said would have "a significant economic dimension" including talks on beef and dairy.
The visit reflects Beijing's bid to strengthen ties with individual European nations amid strained China-EU relations.
Tuesday's Chinese readout also listed green energy and artificial intelligence as areas for enhanced cooperation but made no mention of beef or dairy.
Li described the two economies as "highly complementary" and called for upholding multilateralism and free trade, according to state broadcaster CCTV late Tuesday.
In a clip posted earlier on Martin's X account, the prime minister said he pressed Chinese officials for the reopening of the Chinese market to Irish beef products, and raised issues related to China's new dairy tariffs.
China-EU ties have been tense since the EU imposed levies on Chinese EV imports in 2024, prompting Chinese retaliation including tariffs on EU dairy products.
"Ireland will always be constructive on trading matters. We've always been in the school within the European Union that has favoured open trade," Martin said on Irish radio.
BEEF EXPORTS
Ireland exports the bulk of its output from its beef and dairy industries, which are major employers in the country. It is among Europe's largest exporters of dairy, shipping about 6 billion euros ($7.04 billion) annually.
Irish beef exports to China have been suspended since 2024 after a mad cow disease case.
On a visit to China in November, Junior Minister for Agriculture Timmy Dooley said Dublin was making progress in persuading Beijing that Irish beef was safe but that there was "a way to go" to clear the resumption of exports.
Irish beef, which the country markets as a premium commodity in the UK and Europe, also faces competition from cheaper South American imports.
Last week, China also set import quotas and extra tariffs on beef imports from this year, hitting global suppliers.
Martin, the first Taoiseach to visit China since 2012, has recently downplayed Irish intelligence warnings portraying China as a "hostile state actor", preferring instead to adopt a long-term and strategic understanding of China.
($1 = 0.8527 euros)
(Reporting by Liz Lee and Shi Bu in Beijing, Padraic Halpin and Conor Humphries in Dublin; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Ros Russell)
Aircraft leasing is a financial arrangement where an airline or operator can rent an aircraft from a leasing company instead of purchasing it outright, allowing for more flexible fleet management.
Multilateralism is a diplomatic strategy that involves multiple countries working together on a given issue, often through international organizations, to achieve common goals.
Green energy refers to energy produced from renewable resources that have a minimal impact on the environment, such as solar, wind, and hydroelectric power.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems, enabling them to perform tasks such as learning, reasoning, and problem-solving.
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