Tariffs aren't going away anytime soon. That's the view of Tánaiste Simon Harris who was in Washington last week where he met with, among others, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Lutnick, presumably, sketched out the days ahead, at least as best as he could given the all over the shop nature of Washington these days.
After his meeting with Lutnick Harris issued a statement: "I was pleased to meet with Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick today in Washington D.C.
"It was a timely, valuable and substantive meeting that took place shortly after President Trump’s latest announcement in respect of tariffs. We discussed that announcement and the likely next steps.
"I welcomed the fact that the President has announced the suspension of the higher tariffs announced on April 2 for a period of 90 days. This I know will come as a relief to many businesses in Ireland.
"I recognise that further engagement and clarification is required between the European Commission and the administration on the detail of this.
"We also had an opportunity for a substantive engagement on pharma and I outlined the mutually beneficial role that the sector plays for Ireland and the United States.
"During the meeting, I also outlined the dynamic interconnected economic relationship between Ireland, Europe and the United States. I conveyed our commitment through the EU to comprehensive negotiations that would address a broad range of issues.
"The meeting with Secretary Lutnick has confirmed my view that there is an openness on the part of the US to engage in such a process.
"I outlined my view that Ireland, as part of the EU, wants to play a constructive role and will continue to be a voice for calm and measured engagement in the time ahead."
Back in Ireland Harris said it would be “foolish” to not prepare for a scenario where U.S. tariffs remained in place long term.
According to the Irish Times, Harris said that following the “chaos” of the last fortnight, there were signs the U.S. was more open to negotiate.
Said Harris, who was in Luxembourg: “When I was in DC only a couple of days ago, I got the very clear impression that negotiation was something that the United States was now very interested in.
“The European Union position and the Irish position has been clear from the start, that we wanted talks ahead of tariffs. The US decided to put tariffs ahead of talks. We saw the turmoil and the chaos that that caused.
“After the moments of chaos and the big reveal and all the press conferences, it’s now time to get serious, it’s time to get down to business. “It’s important that every hour of every day now is put to good use, because we’ve seen the turmoil of the last number of days and that simply can’t continue."
The next day the daily was reporting that Washington was looking at forcing a choice on the European Union, Ireland included: choose between Washington and Beijing.
As the Times reported: "The United States will seek to force the European Union to choose between the US and China on trade, according to briefings circulated to senior ministers and officials after Tánaiste Simon Harris’s meeting in Washington last week with US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick.
"The briefings, confirmed by multiple senior sources, go considerably further than before in identifying the ultimate US agenda for any future trade negotiations.
"They suggest that the overall US strategy is to decouple from China, and that any country who wishes to have a trade deal with the US will also have to distance itself from Beijing."
That sounds more like an ultimatum than negotiation.
In the middle of all this the BBC was reporting that Irish exports, that being exports from the Republic, have never been greater in recent times
"Irish exports to US surge by 200% ahead of tariffs" was the headline on a report by BBC Northern
And the report stated in part: The Republic of Ireland's goods exports to the United States surged by more than 200% in February. The move likely reflected companies getting goods into the country ahead of new tariffs.
"Irish goods exports to the US in February 2024 were worth €4.2bn (£3.6bn) rising to just under €13bn (£11bn) in February this year. In 2024, Irish goods exports to the US were worth €73bn (£61bn), almost a third of the country's total exports.
"Ireland's biggest export sector is pharmaceuticals. The country is a major manufacturing hub for US companies like Pfizer and Eli Lilly.
"In 2024 overall exports of medical and pharmaceutical products rose by €22.4bn (£18.8bn) or 29% to just under €100bn (£83.7bn). These products accounted for 45% of all Irish goods exports.
"Trump has repeatedly expressed his unhappiness at the scale of US pharma manufacturing in Ireland. He has not yet imposed a specific tariff on pharma imports but says he still intends to do so."
No prizes for clearly seeing Ireland's vulnerability as the big boys slug it out over tariffs.
