‘Be calm’ is message from Minister Peter Burke

‘Be calm’ was the essential message Peter Burke, TD, Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, had for business owners when he spoke to RTÉ news this morning.

Asked for his message to directors in boardrooms who are working out the best way to respond to tariffs imposed by the Trump administration in the US, Minister Burke said: “What I would say to people who are considering their position this morning, critically, be calm.

“We will have a measured approach to this. We have and are tackling this problem from a position of strength in the Irish economy. We have 2.8 million people employed. We have a budgetary surplus.

“Also, what we’re doing in a European context, which I think is clever and calm, is we’re going to assess the response, but [take] a period of time to negotiate.”

He said he would examine the different rate of tariff that will be imposed on Northern Ireland as part of the UK – 10 per cent – compared to the rate that will apply to the EU – 20 per cent.

He said Europe has to be calm and “clever about this”.

In crafting a response, he said it’s important that we have a significant window to negotiate.

He believes the US was not up for negotiation in recent weeks because officials were fixated on April 2 and President Trump’s announcement.

Asked what help the government can offer Irish firms, he said: “We work closely with our companies, as we always do, through our state agencies. We have 42 overseas offices that will be looking at diversification, like we did post-Brexit, because we saw a huge amount of opportunity.

“And in every significant challenge, there are huge opportunities. But there are also our primary and secondary consequences that we have to be aware of, because there will be a significant amount of stock and Chinese inventory that will be redirected to other markets. So the EU needs to have a clear and concise approach to that.

“We need to ensure that we avoid dumping in our marketplace.”

Minister Burke said Ireland and Europe are strong on quality and innovation, and those are “key for us”.

“We have diversified… and we see in the Asia-Pacific region, there’s a huge amount of opportunity there for us as a country.”

The minister said a number of US companies “are making decisions about coming into the Irish market. I can’t tell you the names of those companies, because obviously they’re commercially sensitive”.

Pointing out that businesses want certainty, he put a silver lining on the tariffs announcement, in that now company bosses know what the position is.

“I’m being clear to people that I still see a pipeline for US investment into our economy. It will be challenged. And one of the key areas on the secondary issues that I would be concerned about is Singapore having 10% of a tariff, because they are a significant competitor.

“So we need to ensure that we control the problems we can, really work on our action plan and competitiveness, which we are, right across government, and continue certainty in our economy.”

“Ireland is open for investment. We have certainty. We have access to a marketplace of possibility in the EU.”

(Minister Peter Burke was speaking on Morning Ireland on RTÉ Radio One.)