The Irish Independent's View: Ireland must proceed with caution after Donald Trump's threat of increased pharma tariffs
In his second coming, the US president has honed his superpower for wreaking economic havoc. Were he to write another book, it ought to be titled The Art of the Chaos.
'They [pharmaceutical companies] make a fortune with pharmaceuticals, and they make it in China and Ireland and everything else,' he said.
The EU-US deal had already come in for severe criticism from countries including France and Germany for giving in too much and accepting higher tariffs.
However, EU Commission officials defended it on the grounds that the agreement prevented an all-out trade war and also got Washington to roll back on a threat of pulling its security guarantees from Europe.
The pact, signed by commission president Ursula von der Leyen, includes investment pledges and more purchases of US weapons and energy products.
'We chose the less bad option and we feel this is the better choice,' an EU official told the Financial Times. 'We're very clearly operating in a second-best world.
Of course, America has its own problems, not least of which is the almost $1tn (€859bn) it must pay to service a national debt of $37tn.
The Fiscal Advisory Council accused the Government of 'painting too rosy a picture'
There is good reason why Ireland is the envy of Europe and a thorn in the side of the US president. Revenue figures have shown €156bn of corporate tax has flowed into the Exchequer in just 10 years.
And we have just set a new record this year: according to the latest exchequer returns, tax receipts to the end of July came to €58bn.
Earlier this summer, the Fiscal Advisory Council accused the Government of 'painting too rosy a picture' of future tax revenue in the context of framing a budget.
It has also claimed that the Government has 'lost its anchor', with spending on a potentially unsustainable trajectory'.
Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe is mindful of the risks and recognises that undue dependence on such eye-watering sums is hazardous.
'As I have said many times, we cannot assume these over-performances will continue indefinitely, particularly in the context of a deeply uncertain international trading environment,' he said.
A cynic will tell you that he who remains calm while those around him panic probably doesn't know what's going on. The Coalition may not be hyperventilating just yet, at the threat of another transatlantic tariff thunderbolt, but a trimming of the sails and a checking of ambitions in terms of the budget must still inform their thinking.
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