Trade Relations
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-09
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Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

I absolutely will. The Deputy is right. This is the sector that got away from the final deal. I know from talking to the EU Commission and counterparts this is the next big priority for Europe because of course it affects us here via Tullamore Dew and Irish Distillers but it also affects France, Italy and other countries, as well as Scotland, if you like, outside the EU. This is an issue we as a country and as a Union would have liked to see in the deal. From my conversations with Secretary Lutnick and Ambassador Greer, President Trump's trade representative, what we all have to do now is show good faith in delivering on the agreement that is in place. That work is under way on both the EU and US sides. Then we have to sit down around a table again and see whether there are areas where it simply makes sense to do more.
The Deputy is right. I have been in Washington, New York and across the United States and there are Irish companies and distillers that would have made investments in the US that would have created US jobs but that have stopped or at least paused those as a result of the impact of the tariffs. President Trump's agenda is about creating more jobs in his country. We can help with that agenda but the 15% tariff is a problem in relation to that.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-09/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:26+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-09