Ireland faces Trump tariffs hammer blow as Conor McGregor leads calls for his country to LEAVE the EU

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Ireland is facing a double hammer blow from Donald Trump's tariffs frenzy, its deputy premier warned today, as MMA fighter Conor McGregor led calls for the country to quit the EU.

Simon Harris said it is the Irish government's 'working assumption' that the White House will launch a further attack aimed specifically at the pharmaceuticals industry, on top of the 20 per cent rate levelled at members of the bloc. 

The medical drugs and chemicals industry employs 45,000 people in Ireland and trade with the US is worth €58billion annually.

The European Union is finalising its first package of countermeasures with Commission president Ursula Von Der Leyen warning Europe is prepared for further retaliation if necessary.

The decision by the US President greatly angered McGregor, who posed with him in the Oval Office on a visit to Washington just a fortnight ago. 

In a rant on X, the martial artist - who in December lost a civil rape case over an assault in 2018 - said: 'To be charged double the United Kingdom is an abomination!

'If this is fully reciprocal, what on earth are we charging our brothers in the US 20 per cent for at the order of the EU [sic].

'Although we are in the EU, Ireland must administer exemption to our siblings in the United States separate to the EU, and the favor then returned.

'Ireland will separate here and we will charge 10 per cent on Irish goods to the US and the US will charge 10 per cent to us also. Fair play. Otherwise, and maybe the caveat in all of this, we should no longer be in the EU.'

Simon Harris said it is the Irish government's 'working assumption' that the White House will launch a further attack aimed specifically at the pharmaceuticals industry

The decision by the US President greatly angered McGregor, who posed with him in the Oval Office on a visit to Washington just a fortnight ago

McGregor took to social media to express his frustrations, but did not mention Trump by name

Pharmaceuticals were not included in the broader 20 per cent tax imposed on other goods from the EU by Trump in his protectionist assault on the world economy last night. 

But Mr Harris, who is also Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, said the President had been clear there were other sectors that would be hit by 'special measures'.

'Steel and aluminium, he's already done. The car industry he's already done and he's indicated semiconductors and lumber and pharma,' the deputy premier told reporters in Dublin.

'Therefore, my working assumption has to be that there will be further measures directed at pharma, or at least that that's the intention of the US administration.'

While Ireland has been stung thanks to its membership of the EU, the special Brexit deal done for Northern Ireland could allow it to benefit. 

Thanks to the agreement made in 2023 - and loathed by unionists - firms setting up a manufacturing base there could sell to both the EU single market and Britain tariff-free and be subject to the lower rate of US tariffs.   

While Ireland has been stung thanks to its membership of the EU, the special Brexit deal done for Northern Ireland could allow it to benefit

In December, the Stormont Assembly voted to extend post-Brexit trading arrangements for another four years.

Under the arrangements in the Windsor Framework, which were designed to ensure no hardening of the Irish land border post-Brexit, Northern Ireland continues to follow many EU trade and customs rules.

This has proved highly controversial, with unionists arguing the system threatens Northern Ireland's place in the United Kingdom.

There had been significant anxiety in Ireland in the run-up to Wednesday's announcement, with the US administration's protectionist approach to tariffs and tax posing a major risk to the Irish economy that is in large part sustained by long-standing investment by US multinationals.

The potential impact on the pharmaceutical sector, which employs around 45,000 people, was a particular cause of concern.

Total Irish exports were valued at €223.8billion last year, with roughly one-third going to the US.

Of the €72.6biliion in US imports from Ireland, approximately €58billion relates to pharmaceuticals and chemicals leaving Ireland.

It had been projected this could halve if Mr Trump had implemented a 20 per cent tariff on the goods and the EU had responded in kind. 

Pharmaceuticals were not included in the broader 20 per cent tax imposed on other goods from the European Union by Trump in his protectionist assault on the world economy last night

Mr Harris said he took a 'grain of hope' in Mr Trump's stated willingness to engage with other countries.

'It's absolutely clear President Trump wanted this big moment last night. He got it: Big charts and all – that happened in the Rose Garden, that bit is done.

'What we now need is the maturity of actually sitting down in a room and finding a way forward that's good for the US economy, good for the EU economy, and that then ultimately is good for Ireland.'

Mr Harris said Ireland continues to engage with the US and points out that 80 per cent of pharmaceutical exports to the US are not finished goods, and require further work in US factories – which comes with jobs and taxes there.

Ireland's premier Micheal Martin travelled to Washington DC last month, where the US president told him he did not want 'to do anything to hurt Ireland' but added that the trade relationship between the countries should be focused on 'fairness'.

He accused the Irish Government of 'taking' US pharmaceutical companies through attractive taxation measures and said: 'We're going to take back our wealth and take back a lot of the companies that left.'

He added: 'All of a sudden Ireland has our pharmaceutical companies, this beautiful island of five million people has got the entire US pharmaceutical industry in its grasp.'