Trump tariffs could undermine Brexit deal in Northern Ireland

Micheál Martinirish Prime Minister

It's somewhat early yet to be talking in terms of supports (for businesses),

Martin told a press conference

When we were going through all of this in Brexit, issues like customs codes and checks, the government departments had teams of people who understood what all of this meant. But they have all been stood down,

he said

We're going to take back our wealth and take back a lot of the companies that left.

He accused the Irish Government of 'taking' US pharmaceutical companies through attractive taxation measures and said

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.

He added

The [Trump] administration thinks is that by targeting these countries they can target Chinese investment in countries like Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Indonesia. By targeting their products maybe it will affect Chinese exports and the economy,

Dr Siwage Dharma Negara, a senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, said ... he said

What we have heard from business of all sizes, across all industries, from around the country is that these broad tariffs are a tax increase that will raise prices for American consumers and hurt the economy,

said Neil Bradley, chief policy officer at the US Chamber of Commerce, the corporate lobby group

There is a period of transition, because what we’re doing is very big.”

Trump himself appears prepared for the announcement to spark a lot of turbulence in markets across the world, saying recently

If anything, commercial policy measures should be targeted and restricted to sectors at the origin of disputes – steel and aluminium in this case,

DII said