Aontú Leader Peadar Tóibín has called on the government to do more to ensure that Ireland has a negotiation platform within the EU to prevent damage to the Irish economy.
The EU responded to the steel and aluminium tariffs by saying it would raise its levies on up to €26bn ($28bn; £22bn) worth of US goods, including boats, bourbon and motorbikes, from tomorrow. Newly announced tariffs on car parts will hit EU economies, such as Germany, hard.
The Meath West TD said:
“Aontú has been warning for many years now that Ireland is one of the most exposed countries to a US Tariff and Corporation tax war. Ireland exports relatively more to the US than other EU countries.
Last year Ireland exported €72.6 billion worth of goods to the US. €58 billion is composed of pharmaceuticals and chemicals. Trump has explicitly stated that he wants these Pharma companies to manufacture in the US despite Ireland doing a “good job” of attracting large US pharmaceutical companies to base themselves in Ireland.
There is now a discussion within the EU of utilising tariffs against US services with a possible focus on Intellectual Property and banning US companies from EU procurement under powers it enacted during the last trade dispute with Trump in 2021. This is incredible. It would put the Irish tech industry in the firing line. It would have a devastating effect on Irish companies if the US responded in kind, particularly for tech companies stationed here.
It seems tha the EU are not really aware of Ireland’s needs in this battle. When the EU targeted US Bourbon as part of its retaliatory tariff threat, it put the Irish drinks industry in the sights of Trump. I have asked the Minister for Finance what contribution has the Irish government in the decisions by the EU to retaliate to the threatened US tariffs and the only answer the government can provide is that the EU is open to ‘fine tuning’ its response.
In any collective response to escalate the trade war with the US, we know Ireland’s bargaining strength will be minuscule compared to that of Germany or France, and yet the government want to use the EU-wide approach to protect every Member State despite specific threats against the Irish economy.
The government need to urgently outline its approach in the European Council to protect Irish jobs and the Irish economy and put Irish interests first within the EU.”
ENDS
