Dairygold and Tirlán leaders have urged the EU and Irish Government to respond carefully and cautiously to Donald Trump's imposition of a 20% tariff on all products from the European Union.

Dairygold CEO Michael Harte told the Irish Farmers Journal on Thursday that the tariff announcement was very disappointing, but he urged caution.

“It is a big concern, but I think we need to take time before we [Ireland and the EU] take any measures, we need to consider the overall implications,” he said.

“[The Irish Government and the EU] needs to work closely, try and discuss the situation with the States and come to a solution, rather than reacting now with counter tariffs at this moment in time,” he said.

“Hopefully, a better deal can be negotiated overall for everybody concerned.”

“It is a concern,” he added. “But look, as an industry, we faced many challenges over the past years as well, Brexit being one of the most recent ones, and we've all come through it, and the industry is very resilient, so hopefully we should be able to deal with [the tariffs].

Listen to what Michael Harte said in full here:

Baileys risk

Tirlán chair John Murphy also described the tariff of 20% on European Union product as “very unwelcome”.

He told the Irish Farmers Journal that while Tirlán itself was not hugely exposed with around 5% of its dairy product going to the US, there were concerns about Baileys, to which Tirlán exclusively supplies cream and on the grain side for whiskey production.

“That's a big worry, but even some of the big global customers we sell to, they're all exporting to the US. So, yes, we're very concerned, but I think it's time really not to panic either,” he added.

“It's probably a time to respond rather than to react. Let's take a measured approach, because we've watched Trump over the last few months, you know, things change very rapidly, and hopefully this is negotiating position and hopefully in a month or six weeks we’ll be looking at something very different here, a bit of pragmatism will work here.”

If we react too fast and start putting on counter tariffs, that’s when we’re in real trouble

Nonetheless, he added: “This is a huge, huge concern to us as a company and to our dairy farmers and to our beef farmers and to our sheep farmers and to our grain farmers, a big worry.”

Asked what his message to Government would be, Murphy said: “Be cool and not react. I think if we react too fast and start putting on counter tariffs, that’s when we’re in real trouble. So my message to Government is to keep calm and EU partners, you know, again, to negotiate and see, can we get to a place that will work for all our members and for our country.

Resolve

“I'd move to trying to resolve this as quickly and that's something that will work for both Europe and for America, and I'm sure that's possible.”

Listen back to John Murphy's comments here:

Michael Harte and John Murphy were speaking at the launch of Dairygold’s River Blackwater Catchment Programme, a new three-year initiative that will include a series of combined projects, actions and activities to engage farmers and processors and implement farm practices to improve water quality.

Its partners on the project include Teagasc, the Local Authority Water Programme (LAWPRO), as well as Dairy Industry Ireland, Meat Industry Ireland, Irish Grain Growers, ABP, Dawn Meats, Kepak, Kerry Co-op, North Cork Creameries and Tirlán.

US trade mission

Speaking at the launch, Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon said he would be travelling to the United States on a trade mission next week, where he would highlighting that the “trade and the benefit that we've gained out of our engagement with the US over the many years has been mutually beneficial”.

“There are 770 Irish companies based in America, employing 200,000 American people, sourcing some products locally, and the benefit has been on both sides of the Atlantic, and the pain and the disruption of tariffs is shared will be shared on both sides of the Atlantic if they go through with them,” Minister Heydon said.

“I'll be highlighting not only the really significance of our exports and how they're valued by American consumers, but also the contribution that those Irish companies are making to the US economy.”

Brexit echoes

The Minister recalled the Brexit challenge faced by Ireland in the recent past.

“We’ve faced these challenges before. I'm really struck by the fact that the similarities what we're facing now is very similar to what we faced with Brexit,” he said.

“A key trading partner of ours has decided to take a very different direction in policy. It's going to impact us, it's going to impact them particularly significantly and then it's going to impact the EU, and then the EU has to respond and that's going to impact us too.

“And the only place for Ireland to be, just like we were on Brexit in that response, is to be at the heart of Europe, engaging with our European counterparts, making sure that they understand our particular vulnerabilities and our particular sensitivities in areas like dairy and whiskey and other key areas.”