Ireland holds its breath over U.S. tariffs

CGTN Europe

As tariff negotiations continue between the U.S. and the European Union, Ireland - one of the EU's most open and exposed economies - is holding its breath.  Ahead of the July 9 deadline, our correspondent Ken Browne is in Ireland to find out more.

Transcript

00:01Apple, Amazon, IBM, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Meta, global corporate giants with one thing in common, a significant presence in Ireland.

00:13Well, the 200,000 people work at US multinationals here in Ireland at places like this, Google's European headquarters in Dublin.

00:22But almost half of those jobs could go, according to the Irish government, if the US administration follows through on their trade war threats.

00:32In May, the US administration announced 50% tariffs on all European goods, which was then postponed for negotiations until July 9th.

00:43Howard Lutnick, US Trade Secretary, however, has Ireland in his sights.

00:47Howard Lutnick has said that Ireland is running a tax scam. Is Ireland running a tax scam?

00:54Ireland was a tax haven. I do not believe that we are still a tax haven, but we still have a low corporate tax rate.

01:01Now, our headline rate, 12.5%, it's going to go up to 15%. That is still lower than the US, lower than a lot of other countries.

01:09But is it a scam? I wouldn't say we are any longer, but we are a low tax situation.

01:14Big tech and big pharma are of massive importance to the Irish economy, but other sectors could be caught in the crossfire, too.

01:23US President Donald Trump has threatened a 200% tariff on EU alcohol.

01:30Around an hour from Dublin, at the Great Northern Distillery, you'll find John Teeling, a legendary name in Irish business,

01:38known for almost single-handedly saving the Irish whiskey industry.

01:42We were the world's dominant supplier, with more than 60% of all the whiskeys in the world.

01:48A new technology came in, columns. The Irish industry did not adopt it. Scots did.

01:54And within 100 years, we were wiped out.

01:55I and a colleague, we established the first new distilleries.

01:59The future, as I said to you, for a little country like ours with 5 million people in total, is going to lie in exports.

02:05We export 95% of what we make here.

02:08Over a billion dollars' worth of Irish whiskey was sold to the US last year.

02:14And while that might only be a small drop compared to the record near $250 billion total Irish exports in 2024,

02:24Ireland is putting the good stuff on ice, hoping for a US-EU trade deal that ages well.

02:30Ken Brown, CGTN, Dublin.

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