A leading trade consultant has warned that Ireland, as well as the rest of Europe, are in danger of being dragged into the US-China trade war, according to the Irish Examiner.
The Examiner spoke to John Whelan, a former chief executive at the Irish Exporters’ Association and he said American multinational groups such as Apple will be concerned that President Trump plans in increase tariffs further.
According to Whelan, Trump is planning a further $200 billon (€170.5 billion) of Chinese goods.
The Middle Man
This will affect companies like Apple, which has large operations in Ireland which sources components before selling back to China.
Whelan said that the threat to European firms is in the disruption of supply chains, as well as the risk that Chinese firms will abuse European markets.
“This is the largest so far [of trade war tariffs] and there will be consequences,” he told the Examiner.
He said that the scale of the tariffs proposes will lead to “a lot more serious international disruption”.
“The Chinese will be duty bound to respond. There will be major difficulties across world markets and not just confined to the US and China,” he said.
Whelan highlighted that the US-China trade war may end up without a peacemaker after the Trump administration has been ‘deliberately attempting’ to downgrade the World Trade Organisation as adjudicator of trade disputes.
The EU will continue to recognise the WTO, Whelan said, which means that any deal on Brexit will not be undermined.
© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
