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LAST UPDATE | 2 Apr
US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump announced he is signing an order imposing “reciprocal” – or retaliatory – tariffs on countries worldwide.
“I will sign a historic Executive Order instituting reciprocal tariffs on countries throughout the world,” said Trump from the Rose Garden of the White House.
“Reciprocal, that means: they do it to us, and we do it to them.
“This is one of the most important days, in my opinion, in American history.”
When totting up the tariffs, Trump’s administration has added in “currency manipulation and trade barriers” to the metric.
In the Executive Order outlining the tariffs, it was stated that non-tariff barriers includes VAT.
Tariffs function as a tax on imported goods. They are levied against the importer and charged as a percentage of the worth of the goods.
The idea behind imposing a tariff is to encourage companies within a country to source their materials domestically rather than from abroad.
However, most economists agree that the tariffs being announced tonight are more likely to push up inflation and hamper economic growth.
Trump is hoping his suite of tariffs will encourage the US’s domestic industry. He announced baseline tariffs of 10%, although many countries – including the EU as a bloc – will face stiffer rates.
The tariffs Trump announced today are targeting countries that he sees as having the worst trade balances with the US.
He called them “reciprocal” tariffs to suggest that they’re a means to “match” the cost of the US doing business with those countries.
He dubbed the targets of these tariffs the ‘Dirty 15′ – a list of 14 countries plus the entire EU.
A tariff already affecting EU countries is a 25% tariff on steel and aluminium that came into effect on 12 March.
A 25% tariff on automobiles that was announced last week is also coming into effect tomorrow, followed by 25% on automobile parts next month.
During his tariff announcement, Trump claimed that the EU is “pathetic” for how it treats the US and announced 20% “reciprocal” tariffs on other imports.
Trump held a chart outlining the tariffs, and the chart claimed that the EU puts tariffs of 39% on the US.
Speaking to The Journal last week, Professor of Political Economy at Trinity College Sharyn O’Halloran said that with the reciprocal tariffs, Trump is “looking for a way to have what his administration perceives as a levelling of the playing field”.
“This is a shift in their dialogue in the sense that they’ve shifted from the Mexico and Canada case, when they were saying that these were national security issues — the immigrants coming from Mexico and supposedly the illicit drugs coming from Canada — and they’re now using this list of countries that have trade imbalances,” she said.
Taking to the podium just after 9pm Irish time, Trump labelled his speech a “declaration of economic independence” before going on to criticise cheaters and “foreigners” who he said had pillaged his country’s economy.
Delivering a long, rambling speech, the US president announced that he was putting a blanket 20% tariff on all goods coming from countries in the European Union.
Reading from the large chart that he produced and held aloft as he spoke, he revealed that a number of countries would be hit even harder, with tariffs of 24% on Japan and 26% on India.
He also confirmed details of a 25% tariff on all non-US-made cars.
Training his ire on the EU for a section of his speech, he said Europe had been ripping off America. “It’s so sad to see. So pathetic,” he said.
Reiterating his arguments in favour of tariffs he said other nations were getting “rich and powerful at our expense” and that tonight’s move would lead to “stronger competition and lower prices for consumers”.
“In many cases the friend is worse than the foe when it comes to trade,” he said.
The new tariffs on US trading partners are set to begin this weekend, White House officials said after the speech, with a higher rate on “worst offenders” to take effect next week.
Tánaiste Simon Harris briefed Cabinet last night about Ireland and the EU’s state of readiness to deal with the tariffs.
Speaking following Trump’s announcement, Harris said he “deeply regrets” the tariffs.
“There are no winners when it comes to tariffs – they are bad for consumers, put jobs at risk, and drive up costs and uncertainty for business.”
My statement on tonight’s announcement by the US President. pic.twitter.com/uSXKMtiBIU
— Simon Harris TD (@SimonHarrisTD) April 2, 2025
Harris remarked that the government will “seek to control what we can control and influence what we can influence while drawing on unity with our EU partners as our greatest strength”.
“The EU and Ireland stands ready to find a negotiated solution with the US. Negotiation and dialogue is always the best way forward.”
“I must be honest tonight that a 20% blanket tariff on goods from all EU countries could have a significant effect on Irish investment and the wider economy and the impact of what has been announced is likely to be felt for some time.
“It represents a huge challenge to Irish exporters to the US across all sectors. Our relationship with the US is long, deep and meaningful and I want to be clear that it will endure far beyond any difficulties we may encounter in the time ahead.
“We will continue to emphasise the fact that the US-EU relationship is a two-way street. Our economies are interdependent and an extended trade dispute is in no one’s interest.”
Harris will chair the Government Trade Forum on Friday and will attend an EU Trade Ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Monday.
Meanwhile, Taoiseach Micheál Martin tonight remarked that “the imposition of tariffs is bad for the world economy”.
“We see no justification for this,” said Martin.
“More than €4.2 billion worth of goods and services are traded between the EU and the US daily.
“Disrupting this deeply integrated relationship benefits no one. Tariffs drive inflation, hurt people on both sides of the Atlantic, and put jobs at risk.
“As I agreed with European Commission President von der Leyen in our recent phone call, EU unity is crucial, and our response should be considered and measured.”
Martin added that a “confrontation is in no one’s interests” and that “now is a time for dialogue”.
“As a small, open economy, and as a country that has built our prosperity on a policy of free and fair trade, there is no doubt that the imposition of tariffs by the US will have an adverse impact.
“Ireland’s priority is the protection of jobs and our economy,” said Martin.
“It is important that we focus on factors that we can control, including improving our competitiveness and investing in infrastructure.
“By working with Irish-owned companies, multinationals, our EU partners and bilaterally with the US, we can and will weather this storm.”
Analysis by the Department of Finance and the ESRI, produced before tonight’s announcement, suggested the tariffs could cost Ireland more than €18 billion in lost trade.
There are also fears about US companies uprooting their Irish operations or making future decisions not to locate here.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said yesterday that the EU still hopes for a “negotiated solution” to US tariffs but that “all instruments are on the table” to respond if necessary.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said earlier today she believes the EU should not impose counter-tariffs on the US, saying there should not be a “knee jerk reaction” from the EU that would exacerbate the issue.
Ireland’s pharmaceutical sector, which employs 50,000 people – 30,000 of them in US companies – is considered to be particularly vulnerable.
In the Executive Order outlining the tariffs, it was stated that pharmaceuticals are not subject to the tariffs under this order.
The sector doesn’t expect “immediate” job losses from the looming trade war but fears the impacts will be felt “four or five years” from now due to the timescale for investment in large-scale manufacturing plants.
“Everybody’s just waiting to see what happens,” said Eimear O’Leary, communications and advocacy director for the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association, speaking to The Journal.
O’Leary outlined that it’s “hard to say anything for definite” on how the tariffs will play out but that they “will impact and they will certainly create significant commercial challenges for companies based here”.
-With additional reporting from Christina Finn, Mairead Maguire and Eoghan Dalton
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