Ryanair, butter, Botox, and Viagra in spotlight as Trump's tariffs kick in
Did you know that 80% of the global supply of Botox comes from a site in Westport in Mayo, most of the world’s Viagra is manufactured in the small village of Ringaskiddy in Cork, and we make over a third of the planet’s contact lenses? Or that we supply 13% of all baby formula used across the globe and half of the ventilators in acute hospitals worldwide are produced here. For a small country we’re a pretty big deal in the world of pharmaceuticals. So a cautious sigh of temporary relief came on Wednesday even when it became clear that for now, such titans of industry located in Ireland would not immediately fall foul of President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs”. But we’re not out of the woods yet and Tánaiste Simon Harris says it is his “working assumption” measures pointed at pharma are incoming. On paper, you can see why. Pharmaceuticals exported from Ireland to the US last year amounted to €58bn – that’s out of a total €73bn worth of products sent by us over the Atlantic. So a storm is coming. Kate O’Connell, pharmacist and former Fine Gael politician, knows her industry - but warns that any future tariffs will hurt. “I do think it it's going to really rock the pharma industry. They can probably ride it out and they have invested a lot in Ireland and it's well supported by the IDA. You can criticise it, but it has provided jobs for many decades. And while it is difficult to uproot it, it is easy enough to impact it.” The sweeping 20% tariffs imposed on the European Union includes Ireland’s dairy industry, a sector with massive export ties with the US. Kerrygold is the second-best selling butter brand in the US and almost €500m worth of the popular spread was exported there last year. The IFA, our farming representative body, was quick out of the traps to warn that Trump’s rose-tinted tariffs now put up at a competitive disadvantage in two areas – dairy and drinks. Of the €1.9bn worth of food and drink products sent to the US last year, dairy amounted to €830m while drinks, mostly whiskey, totally €900m. “The fact that New Zealand only has a 10% tariff for dairy products and the UK only has a 10% tariff on drinks, while the EU will have 20% tariffs, will leave us at a competitive disadvantage against some of our biggest competitors in these two sectors,” says the group. You have to sympathise with consumers in the US who, thanks to Trump’s chart, are seeing the results of his chart hits in every corner of their supermarket shelves. Overnight, that beloved gold foil- wrapped Kerrygold has a 20% export tariff whacked on its original price which already sells for around $5, just under €5. This is in a country where food prices have continued to soar since Trump took office – even eggs are in short supply after a bird flu outbreak. Back home, we expect some counter tariffs against US imports to be announced by the EU. All’s fair in trade wars right? Wrong. We don’t quite realise how reliant we are on certain imports. You can laugh it off and say you can live without Oreos and Pringles but what happens if Ryanair flight prices surge? Because salty snacks aside, the largest import category from the US to our little island is actually aircraft. Ryanair this year confirmed it will take delivery of up to 29 new Boeing 737 aircraft, a $3bn investment in new aircraft technology. If we slap a new import charge on planes, trains and automobile parts from the US, the punter at home will pay. Michael O’Leary recently said so: “If the tariff wars spread to aircraft or aircraft parts, then clearly it will lead to higher costs for airlines and probably higher fares for our customers.” Tariffs drive inflation, Micheál Martin has warned. But for those of us battling years of a cost-of-living crisis, the thoughts of an inflation surge simply means higher prices on top of already crippling costs from heating our homes to putting food on the table. And it’s our most vulnerable who will suffer. St Vincent de Paul says: “Any price increases resulting from tariffs imposed by the US will certainly impact on those who struggle and those who seek help from SVP. On a daily basis Society of Saint Vincent de Paul (SVP) volunteers hear the worries of people who just can't make ends meet because of the increases in the cost of food and heating. The recent CSO statistics show that after housing costs are paid, 17.9% of the population are at risk of poverty but this rises to 43.4% for people renting from local authorities and 57.3% for households in receipt of housing support such as rent supplement or HAP.” All in all, Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ is proving a bitter pill to swallow with dark clouds on the horizon for Irish and American consumers alike. Siobhan Maguire is a consumer affairs journalist and commentator, and an expert on RTE's consumer rights show The Complaints Bureau. 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