The Government has lobbied the European Commission to reconsider pulling the aviation and medtech sector, as well as whiskey and thoroughbred horses, into the middle of the transatlantic tariff dispute with the United States.
In a letter to the EU’s trade negotiator, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris warned of provoking further US retaliation that would hurt “strategically and economically” important sectors to Ireland and Europe.
The commission needed to “avoid unnecessarily escalating trade tensions”, Mr Harris told EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič, who has been heading efforts to negotiate with the White House.
The commission is preparing a package of tariffs that would kick in if efforts to strike a deal with US president Donald Trump failed. The EU’s executive arm has proposed hiking up duties on imports of US aircraft, cars, agricultural produce, bourbon whiskey and a range of other products.
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“I fully appreciate that a strong package of EU countermeasures is an important lever in challenging negotiations,” Mr Harris wrote.
The blowback from proposed tariffs targeting US products should not “disproportionately” affect any one sector, company or EU state, Mr Harris said.
Concerns that EU counter-tariffs would draw “further retaliatory action” from the US were well founded, he said.
Mr Trump has levied near-blanket tariffs of 10 per cent on goods sold from Europe to the US, as well as a 50 per cent levy on steel imports and 25 per cent tariffs on automobiles. EU efforts to negotiate a suspension of these import taxes have made little headway to date.
National capitals have been lobbying the commission to remove certain products and sectors from its proposed list of retaliatory tariffs.
In his letter to Mr Šefčovič, seen by The Irish Times, Mr Harris said Ireland was concerned about plans to target US aviation, medtech and agricultural products.
Ireland is home to Europe’s largest airline – Ryanair – and has a huge aircraft leasing sector, so any decision to put tariffs on imports of US-made aircraft needed to be “very carefully considered”, he wrote.
Irish whiskey producers fear targeting US bourbon will cause Mr Trump to hit back with higher tariffs on whiskey, wine and other spirits sold into the US from the EU.
“I believe that this remains a significant continuing concern and we should maintain the previous decision not to include bourbon on the list,” Mr Harris wrote.
“An issue of serious concern in Ireland are the proposed measures on animal feed, for which Irish farmers have a very high reliance on imports from the US,” he wrote. This could lead to higher prices on the shelves for consumers, he added.
Mr Harris said the EU should refrain from its plan to tariff the trade of US thoroughbred horses. The US was “by far the largest export market for Irish thoroughbreds outside the UK”, he said.
“This trade depends on horses moving in both directions. I would ask that these items be removed from the list – doing so will have a very limited impact on the overall value of the list and would reduce disproportionate impact on Ireland,” the correspondence said.
The letter also raised concerns about putting import levies on US chocolate crumb, an ingredient used by food producers.
“The sector is particularly concerned about the risk of US retaliation, not least given that the EU exports chocolate crumb preparations in large volumes to the US, whereas the EU has zero imports from the US in 2024,” Mr Harris said.
The Government also asked the commission to pare back proposed tariffs on the US medtech sector, which “could potentially impact on essential medical devices for European patients”.
Due to the strict regulations on the medtech and aviation sectors, it would not be easy for European companies to switch from US suppliers, Mr Harris said.
“I would also like to highlight the need to minimise unintended consequences on Northern Ireland of the current situation to the extent possible,” the letter read, continuing: “I know you will appreciate that this is a politically sensitive topic and will need careful management.”
