Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his question. The response has to be on an number of levels. First, within the European Union, we will be consulting with and inputting into the Commission. The design of countermeasures is important - that it is not a knee-jerk tit-for-tat-type of response. It has to be calibrated, it has to be strategic, to make sure that whatever do, we do not damage ourselves more by doing it. When I say "we", I mean Europe, with Ireland obviously as part of that. That is particularly applicable to the pharmaceutical sector. We have to weigh that up because a response could even be counterproductive and compound the problems. The Commission is working on that. It is aware of our views. We obviously have concerns in the agrifood area. The design of countermeasures will be critical in ensuring that we do that which is optimal for our workers. Protection of jobs is the number one priority of the Irish Government in all of this. It will take some time to unfold.

European did not start this; Europe does not want a tariff war. Europe wants negotiation. I hope, following Europe's response, we will get to negotiation with the US Administration and then get to some settled landing zone, but even that landing zone post negotiation will not be where we are today. We need to be upfront about that. As President von der Leyen said, the old order is essentially gone for now. Therefore, we have to adapt and innovate. Europe's strength is in doubling down on the Single Market and diversifying trade to other countries. This Dáil has had a strange approach to trade deals that the European Union conducts and has opposed them time and time again, vitriolically at times, which makes no sense in terms of where the Irish economy is. We need to wake up fast to the value and importance of the trade deals Europe can do. Counterintuitively, the best thing to do against the protectionist leanings of the US and others is to start doing more trade deals. I hope by the end of this year that Europe will have a deal closed with India. It is looking at Indonesia and it has concluded deals. We have to reflect on that very hard as an Oireachtas. Trade works for Ireland. If one takes the Canadian-European Union trade deal, trade has gone up 30% for Irish SMEs in the Canadian market. This was opposed by most of the Opposition-----

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