Taoiseach welcomes new trade agreement between US and EU as having 'avoided a damaging trade war'
'It also avoids further escalation, or indeed a trade conflict, which would be very, very damaging to the economies of the United States and of the European Union,' he said.'It's important to say that Europe never sought tariffs, or never sought to impose tariffs, and fundamentally, we are against tariffs: we believe in an open trading economy.'Mr Martin said it is a very different situation than before April 1.
'New realities are in play and so at a broader level, the stability and predictability that this agreement brings is important for businesses, is important for consumers and indeed patients when it comes to the manufacturing and distribution of medicines,' he said.'In essence, we have avoided a trade conflict here which would have been ruinous, which would have been very damaging to our economy, and to jobs in particular.'The challenge now for Europe is to work on its own inefficiencies, to reduce barriers within the single market, to press ahead more ambitiously and more proactively on trade diversification and trade deals with other countries that would facilitate that market diversification that is required.'Meanwhile, there is much to be negotiated in the aftermath of this framework agreement.'
The bloc is set to face 15% tariffs on most of its goods including cars, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals entering the US and 'zero for zero' tariffs on a number of products including aircraft, some agricultural goods and certain chemicals – as well as EU purchases of US energy worth 750 billion dollars over three years.Asked about mixed reactions to the deal in Europe, Mr Martin said: 'Nobody is welcoming tariffs with open arms.'I think we've been consistent in saying that we don't agree with tariffs, that we prefer if there weren't tariffs, but we have to deal with realities.'I understand people criticising, but given the balance and the options here… in my view, I would appreciate the work of the (European) Commission in this regard, and the avoidance of a trade war is preferable, in my view, and that's the key issue.'
Ireland remains vulnerable to a slow down in trade with the US economy, due to exports of products such as alcohol, dairy and beef.
The Irish government has also expressed concern at how tariffs could affect pharma multinationals based in Ireland, which employs about 45,000 people in Ireland, as Mr Trump had signalled he intended to target that industry.
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