Conor McGregor leads calls for Ireland to leave the EU

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 €58 billion annually.

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.   

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. 

For the full read, visit The Daily Mail.