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Northern Ireland risks becoming “collateral damage” in the trade wars of President Donald Trump despite the fact that the United Kingdom is affected by a lower price than the EU, politicians and business leaders have warned.
The prospect of a Transatlantic trade The battle has rekindled Brexit tensions in the British region due to the potential of taking Northern Ireland in the cross-fires if the EU imposes counter-tale on American products.
On Wednesday, Trump slapped a 10% rate on imports of goods from the United Kingdom and a 20% levy on the EU, a decision that puts Irish exporters from the North to its advantage for its competitors in the Republic of Ireland.
But if the The EU strikes in Washington With its own tasks on American products, Northern Ireland could face the higher EU rate on any American import from Great Britain under the post-Brexit trade agreement between the United Kingdom and the EU. This would happen even if the United Kingdom did not retaliate.
“Northern Ireland remains exposed to potential EU reprisals and local businesses should not become collateral damage,” wrote Gavin Robinson, head of the largest pro-UK party in the region, the Democratic union party, on the social media X.
“THE [UK] The government must take urgent measures to protect the interests of Northern Ireland and ensure that our place in the British internal market is fully saved, “he said.
The DUP boycotted the political institutions of Northern Ireland for two years on Brexit’s commercial rules before the executive and the Assembly were restored in February from last year.
Speaking on Wednesday in the House of Commons, the British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer described the question of “very serious” and said that “the interests of Northern Ireland are at the forefront of our decisions”.
Brexit has left Northern Ireland inside the EU single market for goods. As part of the post-Brexit trade agreement of Windsor, agreed in 2023, the goods of Great Britain enter the region under a so-called “greenway” without verification of customs if they remain in Northern Ireland.
All goods at risk of crossing the border in the EU must go through a “red track” with customs orders.
If the EU applies counter-tale as a commercial defense Mechanism designed to level the rules of the game, the Windsor frames would automatically require American products entering the region to use the red track and be subject to the 20%EU rate rate, according to experts.
“We will have to see how nuanced things are,” said Nichola Mallon, decentralized trade and politics at Logistics UK. But she expected to see “an increasing number of goods which will not be eligible for the greenway”.
Roger Pollen, head of the federation of small businesses in Northern Ireland, urged the European Commission to save the region by retalling against American services rather than on goods, because the services are not covered by the Windsor.
“We wrote to the EU to urge them – if they will respond with prices – to use [that] mechanism so that Northern Ireland is not inadvertently caught in the middle of a three -rate tariff dispute. »»
While Irish importers from the North were responsible for EU counter-vigors, they could seek to recover the tasks “if they can prove that he has remained in the United Kingdom,” said Carol Lynch, partner of customs and international services at BDO Council.
“But it is difficult to obtain reimbursements in the best of cases. It will become really complicated.”
