Ireland's Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Simon Harris TD, said today, Thursday, August 7, that the new tariff arrangement between the United States and the European Union has commenced.
Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said that while the commencement "provides some degree of certainty after months of uncertainty and a vacuum for businesses in Ireland, the EU, and the US, there is much work still to do in the days, weeks, and months ahead."
Speaking on Thursday morning, the Tánaiste said: “It’s absolutely essential that we continue, at a European level, to engage with what is a framework agreement and seek to maximise the number of areas in which there can be zero-for-zero when it comes to tariffs.
“Whilst there are some areas that have already been agreed as exempt from tariffs between the US and the EU, I’m very eager to see more progress made in more areas, including for the drinks industry, which is an important part of the Irish economy.
“We’ll also need to continue to work in the time ahead to tease through the detail in relation to particular sectors.
"From a pharma point of view, my position remains the same, as does the position of the European Union. There is huge potential and scope for the EU and the US to work together in the interests of patients, their economies, and the pharma industry.
“In many ways, the EU and the US are interdependent when it comes to pharma. In the very first instance, it’s vital that the US keeps its agreement in terms of a tariff rate of no higher than 15% on the pharma industry.
“But actually, in the time ahead, it’s important that we seek to further improve that. US pharma companies need to have a base in the European Union — and Ireland has been a very constructive, very good home for those businesses. They’ve done very well in Ireland.
“We need to continue to make sure that nothing happens that causes disruption to the industry or to global supply chains. So, there’s much work to do in the weeks and months ahead.
“We also must continue to control what we can control and continue to make our country, and our European Union, as competitive as possible, as good a location as possible to invest in and create jobs.
“We must also look for other opportunities to diversify markets for Irish business. While we want to continue to do business with the US and indeed want to grow business. It is important that we take every opportunity to identify new markets. This month we will publish Ireland’s new Market Diversification Action Plan
“And I think this will be important in the time ahead.”
"Just a high-level framework agreement"
Speaking with RTÉ News on Thursday, the Tánaiste described the commencement as the "end of the beginning phase."
He said: "We now have some degree of certainty that 15% tariffs are now in effect.
"That's not a good thing, by the way, tariffs are bad.
"But, on balance, it's better to have some degree of certainty and an agreement and certainly a lower rate of tariff than many parts of the world."
Harris added that the EU Trade Commissioner is expecting a joint statement between the EU and the US shortly, and he's hopeful that it will come "this week."
He said: "I think it's quite peculiar, quite frankly, that that hasn't yet arrived and been published, considering the tariffs are now in place.
"And I suppose that, in of itself, is an indication that really this is just a high-level framework agreement and there's still so much work to do and, quite frankly, so much to play for in terms of trying to exempt as many sectors as possible from tariffs," including the pharma sector.
Ireland "regrets" 15% baseline tariff
On July 27, it was announced that the EU, including Ireland, and the US had reached a deal on tariffs and trade.
Responding to the deal, the Tánaiste said at the time: “While Ireland regrets that the baseline tariff of 15% is included in the agreement, it is important that we now have more certainty on the foundations for the EU-US trade relationship, which is essential for jobs, growth and investment."
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