Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)

We all get the idea - tariffs and trade wars are bad for all concerned. What has been proposed by the President of the United States could fold a huge level of world trade. It would not be beneficial to America, Ireland or the European Union and would have a huge impact on the global economy, none of it good. I do not think anyone has come up with a way to win a trade war.

I agree that we need cooler heads to prevail but a large number of people work in the multinational sector. Some of those sectors invested in the US market, and they will be very concerned. My primary question relates to the EU's response. Could we get more of an update on what this retaliatory package would look like? We all welcome that areas such as pharma and dairy would not be included. I accept that the European Union, like any other outfit, is going to come up with something that would impact America. We would obviously like to protect whiskey businesses and whatever, but when we are talking about 50% tariffs, there is not going to be a whole pile of protection for everybody. We just hope that it is more bluster than it is reality.

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