Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The complexity of global supply chains is not lost on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. I am sure it is not lost on the other side either, even though the policies that the US Administration intends to introduce will be blunt and damaging. Approximately 77,500 people are directly employed in the pharmaceutical and medical devices industry in this country, although it is not going to be the only industry impacted if the tariffs go ahead. We have a concern about our drinks industry as well as many others.

Key to the so-called Liberation Day, another grotesquely titled set piece in what is only a ten-week-old Trump Presidency, is that it has the capacity to do great damage to our economy. Between 50,000 and 80,000 jobs could be at risk, through either not being created or not being kept. These figures are from the Minister for Finance. While trade is an EU competency, is there anything distinctly Irish that we can do or are doing to help mitigate the effect of the tariffs?

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