‘A long way to go in terms of negotiations’ – Heydon
The minister visits Washington in the wake of tariffs imposed by US president, Donald Trump on exports from the European Union (EU). His Liberation Day tariffs saw 20 per cent imposed on exports from the EU – except pharmaceutical products, although it is believed that these are still on the cards – while a 10 per cent tariff has been imposed on exports from the UK. But senior Government members here believe that there is still room for negotiation.
Minister Heydon said that high-level meetings sought as part of the trade mission next week had been confirmed. He said “We'll be meeting with the US Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, as well as the chairs of the agriculture committees in the Senate and Congress. So we'll use those opportunities to engage very closely with the US administration,” he said.
During Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s recent St Patrick’s Day visit to the US, the US Chamber of Commerce president and CEO, Suzanne Clark, highlighted just how valuable the US-Ireland economic relationship is – $815bn in two-way foreign direct investment and $230bn in two-way trade. The taoiseach supported this by confirming that there are approximately 900 US companies in Ireland, creating about 200,000 jobs, with 770 Irish companies in the US creating more than 150,000 jobs.
Strong message
Minister Heydon added that he will have a very strong message to convey next week: “ I'll be highlighting how there's 770 Irish companies in the US that employ thousands of American people, and source product locally. They are very valuable to the American economy.
“The trade between Ireland and America, and EU and America has been very mutually beneficial and I will continue to engage [with the US], to tell that story and maybe dispel some of the viewpoints and perspectives that have been put out there.” He said there is ‘a long way to go in terms of negotiations’ and that the Trump administration is there ‘to be engaged with’.
He told Irish Farmers Monthly that there is a reason why the pharmaceutical sector had not been included in President Trump’s Liberation Day tariff announcement this week. He said: “Pharma could still absolutely be touched in future announcements, but highlighting the fact that 84 per cent of the drugs manufactured here that go to the US go there incomplete and need another part of that development process and manufacturing process meant that any intervention on pharma would have impacted the supply of drugs to US consumers, and also the price of them. There's a reason they [US] didn't touch that.”
North and South
Commenting on the tariff disparity between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, Minister Heydon highlighted whiskey as one impacted product: “Our whiskey sector was very worried as that is an area that's very dependent on the US market. There is the North-South element now in the fact that Scotch has a 10 per cent advantage on Irish Whiskey going into the US market.
“But we have a strong growing market share and we have really significant growth, potentially, in areas such as India and Japan, and we have opportunities with Australia, so we will grow those markets and those market opportunities.”
In terms of impact on the dairy sector, the minister exampled Kerrygold: “Obviously Kerrygold is a phenomenally successful brand. Every dairy farmer that supplies their milk to 15 different co-ops the length of breadth of this country have a bonus of about 3c/L on milk from the success of Kerrygold.
“In the US, it has the second largest market share and those consumers will want to continue to purchase that. It is going to get more expensive – if the announcement [this week] becomes reality – but there's a long way to go in terms of negotiations.”