Aontú Leader and Meath West TD Peadar Tóibín stated:
“Irish Whiskey sales increased from 7 million cases ten years ago to over 15 million cases last year. America is by far our biggest market taking over 1/3 of all Irish whiskey produced. The sector is made up of a small number of very large producers and dozens of new craft distilleries. The latest erratic tariff threat from Trump is hugely concerning. A 200% tariff on Irish Whiskey would wipe much of the sector out here in Ireland”.
“When elephants fight, the grass gets trampled. Ireland is potentially the collateral damage here. The difficulty is, the Oval Office meeting between Trump and Martin notwithstanding, Ireland seems to have little influence on either the US or the EU. 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. I have also asked the Minister for Finance what contribution if any has the Irish government had over the selection of targets for this retaliation”.
“It seems to me that Ireland is on the sidelines of these decisions. This is not tolerable. These decisions are too important to our jobs and our economy for the Irish government to outsource these decisions. Ireland exports more relatively 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. The Oval Office meeting between Trump and Martin yesterday saw Trump clearly single out the Irish Parma sector. If this comes to pass Ireland will be plunged into a collapse in taxes, GDP and jobs”.
