Northern Ireland businesses face uncertainty

Tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump on Wednesday have left Northern Ireland businesses facing “unwelcome” uncertainty.

Roger Pollen, head of the Federation of Small Businesses NI, said the full impact of the tariffs was not yet clear.

Northern Ireland goods entering the US will face a 10% tariff from Thursday, under a tariff which has been imposed on the UK as a whole.

Meanwhile, goods from the Republic of Ireland will be hit with a 20% tariff as part of measures Trump has imposed on the EU.

“We’re going to have to work out what’s the implication of this – where’s the cost going to fall,” Mr Pollen told BBC News NI.

“All of those sorts of things will shake out over time but at the moment it causes a lot of uncertainty which is unwelcome.”

He added: “I wouldn’t want to suggest that 10% is low and that it’s not going to cause immense problems for a lot of people.

“I think it’s just lower than might have been feared.”

Tariffs are effectively taxes applied to goods imported from other countries.

Governments impose them in the hope of protecting local manufacturers from international competition.

Announcing the tariffs at the White House on Wednesday, Trump said it would be remembered as the day American industry was “reborn”.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned that the tariffs will deal a major blow to the world economy and be “dire for millions of people around the globe”.

She stressed that Europe would “stand at the side of those directly impacted”, having earlier noted that some of the world’s most vulnerable countries are being hit with the steepest tariffs.

“Europe stands together – for business, for citizens, and for all Europeans, and we will continue to build bridges with all those who like us care about fair and rules-based trade as a basis for prosperity.”

John Campbell, BBC News NI economics editor

After Brexit, Northern Ireland was left in a unique trading position.

Goods manufactured there have barrier-free access to both the EU single market and the UK market. No other UK region or European country has that arrangement.

That was supposed to make NI an attractive location for manufacturing investment- “the world’s most exciting economic zone” the former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called it.

That hasn’t really happened – manufacturing performance has been muted.

But could the Trump tariffs inadvertently help fulfil some of that promise?

The 10% tariff on UK goods could give some NI exporters an advantage if they compete directly with producers in the Republic of Ireland who will face a 20% tariff.

Whiskey distilling is one example of that.

But this may be a relatively small benefit compared to the negative effect the Trump tariffs could have on global trade and economic growth.

The government will keep pushing for a deal to avoid a “trade war”, the Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has said.

A Downing Street source said the UK’s lower tariff “vindicates” the government’s plans, because “the difference between 10% and 20% is thousands of jobs”.

Posting on X on Wednesday, First Minister Michelle O’Neill said she would prioritise “the prosperity and future of everyone who calls our island home”.

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Gavin Robinson said that “Northern Ireland remains exposed to potential EU retaliation, and local businesses must not become collateral damage”.

Alliance deputy leader Eoin Tennyson said: “Trump’s destructive trade war will damage living standards across the globe.”

Meanwhile, UUP assembly member Steve Aiken said that tariffs were “never good news”.

Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Micheál Martin said he could see “no justification” for the tariffs, adding that Ireland will reflect with its “EU partners on how best to proceed”.

Tánaiste (Irish Deputy Prime Minister) Simon Harris said the 20% tariff “could have a significant effect on Irish investment and the wider economy”.