Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal East, Labour)
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124. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to outline all engagements he has had with the Trump Administration in regard to its announcement of pharmaceutical tariffs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15825/25]

Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal East, Labour)
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On the eve of what we are expecting tomorrow, I would like an update on our engagement with the US Administration on the proposed tariffs that are coming into play tomorrow.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Smith and his party for the constructive suggestion on engagement across parties in this House. Let me assure him at the outset regarding what is likely to be a very turbulent time. While there is no doubt that there will be moments of agreement, disagreement, suggestions and whatever else, we should continue to have a good flow of information across the Oireachtas. I certainly commit, on behalf of my Department and the Government, to doing just that.

We all regret in this House the US decision last month to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium. More concerning, however, is the almost guaranteed prospect of a much broader series of actions by the United States and Trump Administration tomorrow. Of course, I am aware of suggestions by the US President of potential tariffs on pharmaceutical products. Ireland exports a large volume of medical and pharmaceutical products to the United States. However, we do so as part of highly integrated global supply chains. Inputs produced in Ireland are integral to the supply chains of American manufacturers.

This is being lost. The simplification involved in saying one would like US companies in Ireland to be in the US misses the point that so much of what is produced by US companies here is exported to the EU market and, therefore, the companies need an EU base. So much of what is produced here goes back to the US, including to US factories, where jobs are created and further tax is paid. We are working extremely hard to ensure Ireland does not find itself isolated on this issue, that it works at European level and that it makes the point that many countries in Europe have a significant pharmaceutical industry, as is now clear in the EU. I was talking to my Danish and Italian counterparts and will be talking to my Swedish counterpart tomorrow. I have also been speaking to my Dutch counterpart. Many countries in the EU have an interest in pharma. I have also been keeping in very regular contact with the European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, Maroš Šefčovič. I was in touch with him as recently as tonight. I also had a conversation with the US Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, last week and hope to meet him in person in the time ahead.

Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal East, Labour)
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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?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The most important thing we can all do in Ireland and the EU, and indeed around the world, is to stay calm and measured. Often after a headline announcement by the US Administration, you have to work through the detail. Given that the misinformation has started, we need to make the point very clearly that Europe does not want tariffs but talks. We want representatives of the European Union and the United States to sit down around a table and find a way that is good for the EU, including Ireland, and the US. That is ultimately where this is going to have to get to because the trading relationship is worth about €1.6 trillion per year. No matter who the President of the United States is or who is in government in any European country, this relationship matters to citizens on both sides of the Atlantic.

Second, at domestic level we are bringing together industry and Government agencies and Departments. I will chair the Government trade forum, which includes industry, on Friday.

Third, the Deputy is so right in suggesting that while EU trade is an EU competency, we are in the EU and around the table. What we all need to do is engage, engage, engage. I will be attending a meeting of EU trade ministers on Monday in Luxembourg, where we will have an opportunity to consider this further.

Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal East, Labour)
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In fairness to the Tánaiste, I recognise his productivity in engaging on Irish exports to the US economy and on putting such an effort into the St. Patrick’s Day visits over the course of a week in the US. Across all levels, from local government right up, this has been very important.

There is no appetite for hysteria here regarding what is going to happen tomorrow. No one wants that. However, we will need to be very reactive to it. I am aware that the Tánaiste is to have meetings on Friday. Does he have anything planned for next week from a parliamentary point of view or in terms of further briefings and debates we can have here, because 77,500 people are directly employed in the pharmaceutical industry? Many of us have friends and family in the industry. The companies are big employers in our communities and there is great concern. They will want to see leadership from the Minister and the rest of the Government in response to whatever happens on the White House lawn tomorrow at 4 p.m.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Those are very fair questions. Obviously, we will hear the announcement tomorrow. We will all have to assess it and respond in a calm and measured way. I will be continuing calls with EU counterparts tomorrow. I have spoken to my counterparts in Finland, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Slovakia and Croatia in very recent days, including today, and I will have a call with the EU trade Commissioner. I will speak to my Swedish counterpart tomorrow. There is a big pharma presence in Sweden. We will address the Seanad on Thursday morning, where there will be statements specifically on trade. I will chair the trade forum in Government Buildings on Friday, and on Monday I will head to Luxembourg to the trade Ministers meeting, at which we will have a chance to assess, as the EU 27, the EU response.

I am very happy to arrange a further briefing. I will come back to the Deputy on the timing. I believe there will be a series of ongoing briefings for Opposition leaders and spokespeople. Let us allow the announcement tomorrow and make sure the briefings happen later this week or very early next week.