3rd Apr 2025 10:00
[Alliance News] - There is a need for "maturity" in negotiations between the EU and the US, Irish deputy premier Simon Harris has said.
His assessment came after US President Donald Trump announced that he was imposing a sweeping 20% tariff on imports from the EU, which will significantly impact Ireland.
Speaking to reporters in Dublin on Thursday, Harris said he took a "grain of hope" in Trump's stated willingness to engage with other countries.
"It's absolutely clear President Trump wanted this big moment last night. He got it: Big charts and all – that happened in the Rose Garden, that bit is done.
"What we now need is the maturity of actually sitting down in a room and finding a way forward that's good for the US economy, good for the EU economy, and that then ultimately is good for Ireland."
Harris said he was seeking a "negotiated way forward" but said the EU "has to respond if the US refuses to engage".
He said the bloc cannot "stand idly by" and added: "We don't want to be involved in tit for tat. We'd much rather be involved in talks."
On Wednesday, Trump announced a minimum baseline tariff of 10% on all imports from all countries, with additional higher rates for some regions – including a 20% tax on goods from Ireland and the rest of the EU.
The 10% rate is effective from April 5 while the "individualised reciprocal higher" rates will be implemented from April 9.
Further information published by the White House suggests that Ireland's crucial pharmaceutical industry is exempt from the measures for now.
However, the working assumption of the government is that the US administration intends to bring further tariffs on that sector in the future as the White House seeks to increase domestic production.
Trump has previously threatened tariffs on the sectors and may yet make further orders.
Harris, who is also Irish Foreign Affairs & Trade minister, said: "I think we have to take President Trump at his word here."
There had been significant anxiety in Ireland in the run-up to Wednesday's announcement, with the US administration's protectionist approach to tariffs and tax posing a major risk to the Irish economy that is in large part sustained by long-standing investment by US multinationals.
The potential impact on the pharmaceutical sector, which employs around 45,000 people, was a particular cause of concern.
Total Irish exports were valued at EUR223.8 billion last year, with roughly one third going to the US.
Of the EUR72.6 billion in US imports from Ireland, approximately EUR58 billion relates to pharmaceuticals and chemicals leaving Ireland.
It had been projected this could halve if Trump had implemented a 20% tariff on the goods and the EU had responded in kind.
The immediate suggestion that pharmaceuticals are not currently part of the new tariff measures comes despite both Trump and his Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick previously focusing on Ireland's moves to attract that sector.
The US administration could still implement higher tariffs on pharmaceuticals at a later date, with the White House warning that future good-specific or sector-specific taxes may be announced.
The industry will also have to examine the specifics of the lengthy and technical list of exemptions.
Harris said Ireland continues to engage with the US and points out that 80% of pharmaceutical exports to the US are not finished goods, and require further work in US factories – which comes with jobs and taxes there.
Ireland's premier Micheal Martin travelled to Washington DC last month, where the US president told him he did not want "to do anything to hurt Ireland" but added that the trade relationship between the countries should be focused on "fairness".
He accused the Irish government of "taking" US pharmaceutical companies through attractive taxation measures and said: "We're going to take back our wealth and take back a lot of the companies that left."
He added: "All of a sudden Ireland has our pharmaceutical companies, this beautiful island of five million people has got the entire US pharmaceutical industry in its grasp."
Lutnick, who has described Ireland as his favourite "tax scam", told a podcast last month: "They have all of our [intellectual property] for all our great tech companies and great pharma companies.
"They all put it there because it's low tax. They don't pay us, they pay them – so that is going to end."
During Wednesday's announcement, Trump said his administration was being "very kind" by implementing tariffs for most trading partners that were essentially half the rate of measures it had calculated was imposed on the US.
Ireland was not specifically mentioned in the address, but Trump emphasised his response to the EU.
He said: "They rip us off, it is so sad to see – it is so pathetic.
"They charge us 39%, we're going to charge 20% – so we're charging them essentially half."
The comments means that the US administration considers that a "full reciprocal" tariff rate for the EU would be 39%.
On Wednesday, Martin said there was "no justification" for the imposition of the tariffs.
He said the Irish government will "now reflect with" EU partners on how best to proceed.
He added: "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."
Martin said the government was prioritising protecting jobs and the economy.
"By working with Irish-owned companies, multinationals, our EU partners and bilaterally with the US, we can and will weather this storm."
By Cillian Sherlock
Press Association: News
source: PA
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