The Department of Foreign Affairs is in “full preparatory mode” for the introduction of possible tariffs on imports to the US, the Tánaiste Simon Harris has said.
Mr Harris said “there is no doubt there are challenges on the horizon”, but added “we need to be calm”.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs said the US President Donald Trump is “transactional” in how he conducts business and politics, noting the US leader paused tariffs on Mexico and Canada.
“The point I’m making is tariffs are bad for people in the United States. They’re bad for many people who voted for President Trump,” Mr Harris said.
He noted that during Mr Trump’s last administration tariffs were implemented, adding that they actually hiked up prices for American consumers.
The Minister said thousands of people work in Irish-owned companies in the US and such companies have invested hundreds of millions there.
“This is a two way relationship,” he said, adding that US companies do business in Ireland too.
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President Trump, he said, is “fundamentally” a businessman.
“I think what President Trump would also want to do is listen to US companies who do business in Ireland and ask why do they do business in Ireland,” he said.
“They do business in Ireland for many reasons – to access our highly educated workforce, to access the European Union,” he added.
Mr Harris said he spoke the US President in November, adding “he understands Ireland and understands the positive contributions that Ireland makes”.
The minister said he believes Mr Trump “wants the European Union to buy more US goods, adding the bloc has a “surplus when it comes to trade goods”.
He added there are opportunities for “the EU and Ireland to do more business and more trade with the United States and therefore address some of the deficit that exists in relation to goods”.
Mr Harris said there is a “way forward” if those involved “keep their heads, keep their calm, don’t respond to every latest comment, but actually wait for the detail of any policy proposal”.
“Crucially the European Union has to stick together” in relation to the matter, he said, adding any response should be taken on an “EU wide level”.
“We can do business with this administration because before the election and after the election, the US and the EU, the US and Ireland are interdependent,” he said.
“That is the economic reality,” he added.
Meanwhile, the introduction of tariffs on imports to the US is a “concern”, the Managing Director of Keogh’s Crisps said today.
Tom Keogh said the company “see exports as a key growth area”, adding the US is “a key a focus”.
Mr Keogh, whose business employs 180 people in Dublin, said possible tariffs “will have an impact on the overall performance over goods in the market”.
However, he noted that export sales over the last 10 years have been “very erratic”.
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“Every year there seems to be some type of challenge you’re dealing with,” he said, adding that two years ago the issue related to logistics.
The tariffs if introduced, he said, will be “another thing we’re going to have to find a way to deal with”.
