Whiskey, horses, and medtech key areas for tariff side deals in EU-US trade agreement, Cabinet to hear

Irish Examiner

7 hours ago

Hammering out tariff side deals across key areas such as whiskey, thoroughbred horses, and the medtech sector will be the best Ireland can hope for in an EU-US trade agreement, the Tánaiste is expected to tell colleagues on Tuesday.
With just a week to go until the negotiation deadline, Simon Harris will tell Cabinet that 10% baseline tariffs in some sectors will pose challenges for the Irish economy and businesses.
The Tánaiste will update ministers of a growing belief at an EU level that an agreement can be reached within the narrow timeframe on an outline deal.
He will say that any deal will have to be assessed against what exclusions from a baseline 10% tariff can be secured, including scope for zero-for-zero arrangements for key sectors, as well as clarity on the outcome of the Sector 232 investigations — including on pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and aviation.
Last month, Mr Harris wrote to the EU's chief negotiator Maroš Šefčovič, in a bid to have whiskey, thoroughbred horses, and the medtech sector removed from the list of counter-tariff items, as doing so would have a significant impact on Ireland.
In a speech to be delivered later on Tuesday at an event marking exactly one year until Ireland takes up the EU presidency, the Tánaiste will say that the ongoing trade talks 'will fundamentally alter the union's relationship with the US'.
We remain hopeful of a deal but, whatever the outcome, it is clear tariffs will remain a feature of the geopolitical trading arrangements
"Europe has stood tall together, and this has been essential in ensuring we get the best possible outcome.
"But there is nobody standing here today that can predict what will happen next week with certainty," he is expected to say.
Social housing
Mr Harris will chair a meeting of the Government Trade Forum on Wednesday, and will travel to Berlin on Friday to meet with his German counterpart where EU-US trade relations will feature high on the agenda.
Meanwhile, housing minister James Browne is to bring a number of memos to Cabinet on Tuesday — including measures to cut red tape for local authorities to construct social housing by simplifying the current four-step approval process into one.
Mr Browne will also bring forward the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2025 that will give people, under certain circumstances, an extension of up to three years of their planning permission when facing a judicial review.
There were more than 40,000 non-commenced residential units on inactive development sites in Dublin alone at the end of last year, and it is estimated that around 15,000 of these units are due to expire within the next two years. Mr Browne hopes to fast-track this legislation to enact it before the summer.