EU tariff response to US may be 'inevitable', finance minister warns

Paschal Donohoe said Donald Trump's threatened 200% tariff on EU alcohol would have a 'disproportionate effect' on Ireland

Finance minister Paschal Donohoe. Picture: Cillian Sherlock/PA

US tariffs on alcohol from the EU will have a “disproportionate effect on the Irish economy”, finance minister Paschal Donohoe has warned but “regrettably we could get to a place where a tariff response from the EU does become needed and even inevitable”.

Mr Donohoe was speaking following the warning by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) that a full trade war with the US could severely hurt the Irish economy