Martin said Ireland is ready to work with the US to bring peace

The Irish Prime Minister said Ireland is ready to work with the US to bring a "just, lasting and durable peace" to Ukraine and the Middle East. The comments came as Micheal Martin presented a bowl of shamrocks to US President Donald Trump at the White House as part of St Patrick's Day celebrations. It came after a bilateral meeting between the two leaders in which the President raised the "massive" trade imbalance with Ireland and accused the EU of treating the US "very badly". At the shamrock presentation ceremony on Wednesday evening, Martin made reference to the US intervention during the Troubles in Northern Ireland and its role in the creation of the Good Friday Agreement. "The story of peace in Ireland is one we have written together," the Taoiseach said. "We know that building peace is a difficult and painstaking task, but when the mighty United States puts its shoulder to the wheel, there is no mountain it cannot move." Martin also praised Trump's "tireless focus and energy" in bringing peace to Ukraine and the Middle East. "In my view, there is nothing more noble than the pursuit of peace and that's what you're doing," he said. In earlier remarks, President Trump said he "loves the Irish people". "We will always maintain that special friendship," he added. "The bond between our countries is as old as our country." Earlier, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump addressed the "enormous deficit" with Ireland. "We want to equalise that as well as we can, and we will work very closely together." Martin told President Trump that foreign investment is a two-way street, adding that Ireland is "investing a lot in the US now". The EU's move comes in response to President Trump imposing a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminium imports to the US, which came into effect overnight.

Trump said this has created "ill-will".

"The EU has been very tough, and now it's our turn. We'll get a chance at it," he said.

"I'm not criticising it, they're doing the same thing they're doing to the EU, but that creates ill will and you know we're going to have reciprocal tariffs as well," he said.

'We don't want to do anything to harm Ireland'

Official figures from Ireland's statistics agency show the country had a goods-trade surplus with the US of just over €50 billion (£41.6 billion) in 2024.

Ireland's goods exports to the US were worth €72.6 billion (£60.4 billion) in 2024 while its imports from the US were €22.5 billion (£18.7 billion).

Trump said the EU was "set up to take advantage of the United States".

When asked if Ireland was also taking advantage of the US, Trump said: "Of course."

"I have a lot of respect for Ireland, what they did and they should have done what they did. But the United States should not have allowed this to happen. We had stupid leaders, we had leaders who didn't know anything." He added: "Suddenly we've got pharmaceutical companies in Ireland, this beautiful island of five million people has taken the whole US pharmaceutical industry by storm.

"The Irish people are very smart and you took our pharmaceutical companies - and other companies - but you know, through taxation, proper taxation, they made it very, very good for companies to move over there," he added.

Trump also said that "I would probably lose the Irish vote" if he drove all US companies out of Ireland.

"We don't want to do anything to harm Ireland, but we want fairness and [Martin] understands that," he added.

However, Martin said that pharmaceutical companies were "doing very well in Ireland", and there was room to discuss a deal.

"I think there's room for those companies to grow in the US and a number of them, by the way, have already announced quite significant manufacturing investments [in the US]," the Taoiseach added. said.

Martin said Ireland served US companies well with a strong, educated workforce and access to the EU's single market.

The president said Ireland's housing crisis was caused by the country doing "too well".

The availability and cost of housing in Ireland is a major political and social issue, with reports showing that thousands of new homes are needed each year to meet demand.

"Do you know why they have a housing crisis? Because they're doing too well, they're not able to build homes fast enough," Trump said.

Martin said it was a "good answer".

The comments have however been criticised by opposition parties, with Sinn Féin saying joking about the housing crisis is "never a good answer".

Read More

US tech firms hit by China tariffs,had Deena Ghazarian

Dina Ghazarian had been in business for just a year when the trade policies of President Donald Trump's first term hit her company hard.

It was 2019 and her California-based firm, Ouster, had agreed to supply several major US retailers with its high-end audio and video accessories, which are largely manufactured in China.

Then Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on China, and overnight Dina had to pay a 25% surcharge on every cable and component, up from zero before.

She was forced to absorb the costs and for a while thought she would go bankrupt.

"I literally thought I would start and close the business in less than a year," she says. "I had spent so much time, money and effort, and to have something like this come at you was shocking." The firm took the job, but like many other US businesses it now finds itself in a similar position.

Since coming back into office in January, Mr Trump has increased tariffs on all goods imported from China by 20%, and imposed taxes of 25% on Canadian and Mexican products, only deferring some until April. The president says he wants to force these countries to do more to stop the flow of illegal drugs and migrants into the US, bring more manufacturing back to the US and address unfair trade imbalances. But the tariffs are much broader than last time, when they were gradually phased in and many products were exempt. Goods such as smartphones, desktop computers and tablets are now incurring tariffs for the first time, while taxes on others have gone higher. "US importers will have to pay these taxes, not exporters," says Ed Brzytwa, vice president of international trade at the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), a North American trade body. It represents more than 1,200 tech firms. "It is American businesses and consumers who will suffer." Businesses like Ms Gazarian's are particularly exposed. China is still the number one supplier of electronic products to the US, with imports set to total $146 billion (£112 billion) in 2023, according to official figures.

Meanwhile, 87% of video game consoles imported into the US that year came from China, along with 78% of smartphones, 79% of laptops and tablets and two-thirds of monitors.

While many US companies such as Ouster have diversified their supply chains away from China since Mr Trump's first term, countries such as Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam still do not offer the same manufacturing capacity and expertise.

As well, the US president is now targeting Mexico - another major electronics supplier. And while domestic manufacturing in the US has increased, partly due to tariffs, it is still limited by high costs and strict regulations.

"Yes, Apple now makes some iPhones in India and [Taiwanese chipmaker] TSMC is diversifying to Arizona," says Mary Lovely, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute in Washington DC. "But China is still a big part of the supply chain. It takes time to develop relationships with new suppliers, it's expensive to develop them." Research suggests companies pass on a large part of the cost of tariffs by raising prices. Earlier this month Corie Barry, the boss of US electronics retailer Best Buy, said the "vast majority" of the new tariffs "will likely be passed on to the consumer" because vendors in the industry have very thin margins. In February, Taiwanese firm Acer said it would likely increase the price of its laptops by 10% based on the 10% tariffs applied to China at the time, while US group HP warned its profits would be hit by tariffs. Ms Gazarian says she may have to raise her prices this year, but she worries it could backfire. "There is a price point where the customer is satisfied with the value of the goods provided. "The minute I go above that, I start losing customers. High inflation has squeezed Americans." During Mr Trump's first term, companies such as Apple successfully secured discounts for products, and we may yet see reductions. Insiders have also suggested that Mr Trump sees tariffs as a negotiating tactic and may reduce them if he gets concessions, as he did when China agreed to buy more US goods in a deal struck in 2020. Fears of a US economic slowdown could also force him to change course. For the time being, however, tensions are likely to remain elevated. China, Mexico and Canada have vowed to retaliate against any US tariffs imposed on them, and this week Mr Trump threatened to double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium, but backed down at the last minute. He plans to impose "reciprocal tariffs" on the rest of the world soon, and threatened to raise tariffs on Chinese goods by up to 60% during the campaign.

Read More