Michelle O’Neill ‘deeply concerned’ by Trump tariffs threat

Northern Ireland’s First Minister has said she is “deeply concerned” about the potential impact on the region of Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on US allies unless they support his proposed takeover of Greenland.

Michelle O’Neill told the Assembly that Economy Minister Caiomhe Archibald had already written to both the UK and Irish governments about the threat, adding that international law had to prevail.

DUP leader Gavin Robinson said it was widely recognised that tariff differentials would not be beneficial for Northern Ireland.

The US president has said he would impose tariffs on the UK and a series of EU countries until a deal is reached for Washington to purchase Greenland from Denmark.

He has not ruled out military action to achieve his aim of taking the territory, which is a semi-autonomous part of the Kingdom of Denmark.

Ms O’Neill was asked about the situation during question time at the Northern Ireland Assembly on Monday. She told MLAs that people were “aghast” at the developments.

The First Minister added: “This is another breach of international law and an attempt to snatch territory.

“I think it’s deeply concerning that the approach that’s being taken in terms of trade, to bully others into kowtowing to a position adopted in the US is quite frankly shocking, and something that I think that international leaders need to take very seriously.

“You cannot be bullied by another country just to support your whim, so I think that international law needs to prevail.”

Ms O’Neill added: “I do think just in terms of what’s actually posed in a economic way, in terms of the tariffs, I’m deeply concerned about what that means for ourselves here.

“We have a special and unique circumstance in a post-Brexit world, and what happens across the EU or what happens in Britain, what happens elsewhere, has a real impact for us.

“So I can say that we need to stand firmly against what’s being proposed, but also we need calm heads in terms of tariffs, and we need to get a resolution that supports our local industry.”

Ms O’Neill told the Assembly that her party colleague Ms Archibald had written to the two governments as well as convening a meeting of her trade committee.

She added: “We ourselves have a series of different meetings throughout the course of this week where we will raise our concerns in terms of what this means in terms of tariff, but trade wars are a race to the bottom and will serve nobody well in the longer term.

“So, what we want to see is our unique circumstances taken into account no matter what scenario unfolds next.”

Mr Robinson said that Northern Ireland had been in the position of facing the threat of tariffs before.

He said: “I think it is widely recognised that it doesn’t work for Northern Ireland, it doesn’t work for the United Kingdom.

“I think everyone can accept that Nato needs to work, Nato as an alliance has been successful over the last 80 years since its inception.

“We rely on it, the security guarantees.

“I don’t think we have any clarity on what the president of the United States ultimately wants to achieve or whether he is achieving it already by just having a greater focus on military presence within Greenland.

“We are going to have to go through a cycle of drama around this and I trust, just as was the case in the past, the threat and potential damage which would be brought through tariff differentials will not be reached.”

Ms Archibald described Mr Trump’s behaviour as “simply outrageous” and said it had to be challenged.

She added: “In response to this latest threat of tariffs, I have again engaged with both the British and Irish Governments.

“I have urged them to ensure that our unique circumstances under the Windsor Framework are taken into consideration in terms of any responses that they may be considering.

“Obviously a trade war is in nobody’s interests.

“Tariffs are bad for business, bad for our economy, bad for ordinary householders.

“We would like to see a negotiated way forward here but I think everything does have to remain on the table because this type of behaviour cannot go unchallenged.”