AN Taoiseach Micheál Martin has responded to the White House’s announcement of a 20% tariff on EU imports, saying that disrupting the ‘deeply integrated’ trade relationship between Europe and the United States ‘benefits no one’.
US President Donald Trump made the announcement to on Wednesday in a highly-anticipated address which he called his country’s ‘declaration of economic independence’. He said that the 20% figure represented half the EU levy on US goods.
Members of the Government, business leaders and economists have raised significant concerns about how the move will affect Irish trade, not least in the pharmaceutical industry. Some 45,000 people are employed in pharmaceuticals and chemicals, representing an enormous €58 billion worth of exports between from Ireland and the US every year.
While the Oval Office produced a fact sheet indicating that pharmaceuticals were not currently part of a reciprocal tariff, it did add that good-specific and/or sector-specific tariffs could be announced in the near-future.
In response to the series of moves made by the US Government, Micheál Martin said: “Ireland believes in open and free trade and that the imposition of tariffs is bad for the world economy.”
An Taoiseach said that he ‘deeply regrets’ the introduction of a unilateral trade policy by the Trump administration and emphasised that there could be ‘no justification’ for the move.
Mr Martin continued: “We will now reflect with our EU partners on how best to proceed. As I agreed with President von der Leyen in our recent phone call, EU unity is crucial, and our response should be considered and measured.
“Any action should be proportionate, aimed at defending the interests of our businesses, workers and citizens. Now is a time for dialogue, and I believe that a negotiated way forward is the only sensible one.
“A confrontation is in no one’s interests. Ireland will be a strong advocate for an outcome which enhances the existing and strong transatlantic trading relationship. [There] is no doubt that the imposition of tariffs by the US will have an adverse impact,” he added.