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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk. With Aviva Insurance. Well, the United States has proposed tariffs of up to 12.5% on imports coming from 60 economies. The move marks a major step in Donald Trump's push to reinstate his country-specific tariffs that were mostly struck down by the Supreme Court. Daniel McConnell is editor with The Business Post and joins me now. Good morning, Daniel.
Good morning, Clare.
So this is Donald Trump and his administration really trying to find ways, is it, of levying new tariffs on countries after the Supreme Court thwarted his earlier ones?
Absolutely.
Chapter 2: What tariffs has the U.S. proposed on imports from other economies?
So we had seen, since Donald Trump has come back into office, a clear attempt to, I suppose, ramp up his protectionist policies, not only with some of his strongest allies, but deemed enemies as well. So this has been a broad campaign since the get-go about trying to institute very hefty tariffs across the board, I suppose.
In Ireland, the big fear is that we're so exposed, given the concentration of US multinational companies here, the tech, pharma, etc., like that, You know, we've been kind of almost sighing with relief every time we've escaped the kind of direct focus of these tariffs.
This latest move, as you say, comes on foot of a report that was done by the government and they're using the basis of what they're calling forced labour. And they're saying any goods made by the use of forced labour will be subject to a tariff. So there's a 10% tariff being applied to imports from Canada, Mexico, all European countries, including Ireland, Taiwan and the United Kingdom.
And as you said, there's a 12.5% levy on countries including China, India, Japan, South Korea, Brazil and Switzerland. So again, this is, as you say, Donald Trump's very clear attempt to say, I'm not backing down from this protectionist kind of policy that I'm very keen on. And I'm now going to start rebuilding that wall here. But now finding new legal mechanisms to do so.
So who decides whether forced labour is being used to make these products in these jurisdictions? Who runs the rule over it?
Yeah, so there's an internal US body that essentially produced a pretty hefty report. It's called the USTR. They ultimately said it was imposing the low rate on goods from economies that impose prohibitions on forced labour imports. or have committed to doing so, including the EU.
So the EU, and I think Olaf Gill, the Irish spokesperson for the Commission, has basically said Europe is working very hard to try and eliminate these forced labour practices in the industry chains out. But the higher rate was being applied to those who have failed to impose any sort of tariff
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Chapter 3: How is Trump's administration attempting to reinstate tariffs?
or enforce any move against these sort of forced labour practices. Obviously the idea of forced labour has been a long controversial one because developed economies like our own and other Western countries have looked to cheaper labour forces in the Far East and elsewhere to produce their goods and services at a much lower cost.
And ultimately what I suppose the Trump administration is using the cover or the excuse if you want to in relation to forced labour as a means to reintroducing this tariff regime. But I think the reality is, the pragmatic reality is that the Trump administration would have used any excuse if it could find it to reinforce the tariff wall that essentially was struck down by the Supreme Court.
So if you're in the American administration and you're working for Donald Trump, what you've done is found quite a clever way to levy tariffs against those who you see as your economic enemies.
Absolutely. And again, it also allows Trump to almost browbeat and kind of humiliate other economies, you know, the virtuous EU, as he often calls them, for essentially standing over poor practices. So it's this curious position that the most rogue president in modern history, or if ever,
you know, now stands on a platform of almost berating or kind of giving out or having the high ground and moralising over other developed countries. But again, I think the hope had been once the Supreme Court had struck down these tariffs that a bit of calm may have introduced, particularly heading into midterms.
And there's a fear, I suppose, from the Republican side that they will suffer heavy defeats. But it's clear from the utterances from the White House in the last 24 hours or so, they're not for turning. They're determined to see this tariff wall rebuilt. And it's really, they don't care who is in the firing line or not.
And ultimately, from an Irish perspective, as I said, the big concentration, the big fear since all this started about 18 months ago has been the focus on our farmer sector. Thankfully, so far, our farmer has escaped. the worst of it, but there's still that genuine fear.
So there's a lot of people, I'd say, both in the Department of Finance and the Department of Foreign Affairs here watching the movements of all of this very, very closely.
Well, a lot of effort and energy has been spent, hasn't it, on protecting the pharma sector. So are you saying that alarm bells will be ringing again on foot of this announcement?
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Chapter 4: What concerns do Irish businesses have regarding U.S. tariffs?
to war with Britain or Germany and we find ourselves in the firing line. And that's always the danger, given the concentration of the, I suppose, the foreign direct investment here in Ireland, that we are always likely, at some point, likely to be in the firing line and the crosshairs.
Daniel, thank you very much for bringing us up to speed on that one. That's Daniel McConnell, who's editor of the Business Post. The Clare Byrne Show with Aviva Insurance. Weekday mornings at nine on Newstalk. Conversation that counts.