Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-20
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Holly Cairns (SD), Cork South-West

I am in complete agreement that any trade war would be hugely damaging. We do not want one; the EU does not want one. It is Trump who is weaponising tariffs, threatening to renege on a trade deal that was agreed only a few months ago and refusing to rule out using force to annex Greenland. These are threats that nobody could have imagined until recently but they are now a grim reality. I recognise how difficult the situation is, but the strategy of EU leaders appeasing Trump has not worked. His belligerence and erratic behaviour are escalating. He has invited Putin, an indicted war criminal, to sit on the Board of Peace, which was supposed to be set up to oversee Gaza but now seems intended to undermine the UN. Then, last night, Trump posted a picture of Canada depicted as American territory. What are we supposed to take from that? Will Canada be next? Nobody really knows the answer to that question. That is the level of dangerous absurdity we are dealing with from the chaos merchant in the Oval Office. If this aggressive behaviour is not a red line for the EU, what will be?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-20/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:31+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-20