Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The key here is negotiation and de-escalation. We need to get to a point where sensible and cool heads prevail. What happened yesterday was an act of economic sabotage by the US Administration in respect of its own economy. What was done will push up prices for American consumers. Obviously, the analysis was based on a 25% tariff, which was more severe than what we have seen, particularly as a tariff of 20% on pharma has been excluded at this point. This would probably allow for GDP growth of approximately 2% to 2.5% in the next number of years, which would be positive. Would that be correct?

In the context of EU countermeasures, I am deeply concerned that we could have a scenario where, as the ESRI and the Department have indicated, countermeasures will impact on jobs, economic growth and the public finances and will obviously push up prices for consumers. What is the Minister's concern in this regard and in the context of the fact that EU countermeasures could give rise to a proper trade war? The US Administration has adopted a unilateral position. We need to get into dialogue with the US Administration in order to try to de-escalate matters and get it to reverse its decision. We have to be careful that we do not step into a trade war.

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