Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
LAST UPDATE | 9 Apr
THE EU HAS approved countermeasures against tariffs imposed by US president Donald Trump on European steel and aluminum last month.
The measures, adopted today, are only in response to the US tariffs on steel and aluminium and will implement duties on 99 items, at a rate of mostly 25% from 15 April.
Further EU countermeasures against the additional US tariffs, announced by Trump last week, are expected – but European leaders are prioritising negotiations first.
Ireland, Italy and France began lobbying the European Commission, which coordinates trade policy across member states, after it was announced that previously implemented tariffs on American alcohol would come into effect again.
However, distillers have been given some welcome reprieve after whiskey, spirits and wines from the US were left of the European tariff list. It was feared that Trump would have targeted the lucrative industry in the EU in response.
A trade spokesperson for the EU has repeatedly labelled the US tariffs on steel and aluminum as “unjustified and damaging” – which will cause economic harm to both sides, as well as the global economy.
However, the spokesperson has said that it is still the position of the European Commission to engage in negotiations with the US to remove the tariffs on the metals as well as the 20% duties announced last week.
The EU has yet to issue a response to the latter, choosing instead to try and de-escalate the situation and return to a normal trading relationship with the American market.
Hungary’s Prime Minister, Viktor Órban, was the only leader to vote against issuing today’s tariffs. The approval is expected to result in a harsh response from Trump, as the US president escalated tariffs against China following their response to tariffs.
Scott Bessent, US Treasury Secretary, said earlier today that countries which do not retaliate to Trump’s fresh tariffs would not face higher rates, after Washington and Beijing entered a tit-for-tat escalation.
“I think what a lot of people are missing here is that the levels that were put out last Wednesday are a ceiling, if you don’t retaliate,” Bessent told a summit in Washington, adding that China has chosen to escalate the situation.
Speaking in the Dáil today, finance minister Paschal Donohoe said that a tit-for-tat response to the separate US tariffs issued last week will place a “dark shadow” over the Irish economy and reiterated Europe’s intention to de-escalate.
Donohoe, who is also the President of Finance Ministers in the Eurozone (Eurogroup), said US tariffs are likely to have a negative impact on economic growth in Europe, but Ireland is coming to the shock from a strong position.
He added that the outcome of a trade way may cost up to 80,000 jobs in Ireland.
“That said, the is not something that the government, or even the European Union, can fully control. So, it is important to take stock of where our economy is at, in order to evaluate how well we might absorb this policy-induced shock.”
The Fine Gael TD said the Irish economy has been tested in recent years – through Brexit, the covid-19 pandemic and the economic impacts arising from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He said that the resilience of the economy is set to be put to an extreme test.
As a result, Donohoe insinuated that proposed tax cuts and capital investment programmes might be paused, telling the Dáil that a “balanced and sustainable approach” will have to be taken to budgetary policy.
“We hope negotiations will bear fruit and that a more normal trading relationship between the European Union and the United States can be restored,” he said today, adding that the focus in Ireland will be how to “insulate” the economy from shocks.
The new tariffs, which will affect items such as orange juice and cranberries, will undo a suspension on retaliatory measures that the EU implemented in 2018 during Trump’s first term and later lifted in 2021 when Biden was in office.
On 16 May, a further 25% duty will be imposed on US exports such as steel and polyethylene, which is the most widely used plastic in the world and is found in shopping bags, toys, and bottles.
And later in the year, on 1 December, a 25% duty will come into force on almonds and soybeans.
These products are some primary exports from Trump-allied states, with the EU seeking to target the local economies in those areas in order to put pressure on the US President’s political peers to lobby the White House to negotiate.
The US is the world’s second-largest soybean producer and exporter, and last year the EU purchased around $2.4 billion worth of soybeans from the US. The EU also imported around $1.3 billion worth of almonds from the US last year.
Meanwhile, the EU is understood to also be targeting items from Republican strong holds, such as ice cream from Arizona and handkerchiefs from South Carolina, according to Politico.
With reporting by Muiris Ó Cearbhaill & Andrew Walsh
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
A shocking incident. Can you imagine if you purposefully rammed a cop car in america, these feral guerriers would be a statistic.
We’re too soft, they will prob get off lightly.
@Jferr2021: have they even been arrested. Looks like they got away and are no doubt loving the publicity.
@Jferr2021: it wasn’t exactly rammed off the road it was 2 very small bumps now the 2 gardai have time off with pay I’m sorry but when someone decides to become a garda they know that they are signing up to stop crime so they didn’t even stop it they drove off and the behaviour was left for community to deal with now the best thing is to get the kids involved in positive activity and most will stay out of trouble unfortunately a small amount will stay involved in negative behaviour but there’s a lot can be saved from that lifestyle
@Ger Byrne: I think your silly attitude is in the vast minority here and rightly so. Clueless
@Ger Byrne: What a naive comment, a positive activity doesn’t solve the issues in any of Dublin’s deprived suburbs, if you god honestly think this you’ve probably never even driven through one of these suburbs let alone lived there. If from a young age your surrounded by drugs, crime, and criminals having more power in your area than the law, your going to be thinking about survival and how to be untouchable, not playing sports or hanging out at a youth centre playing board games. And as for the Garda when our Garda force are so deprived of resources and the justice system can’t back up their hard work to fight crime, what are they realistically going to do???
@Jferr2021: USA is not a nice place…
@Gerry Dornan: no one is saying it is but if these thugs know guards are not adequately resourced, they have no more than a baton at their disposal and the justice system is leniant it will encourage more thuggish behaviour.
Understand that there are underlying social issues here etc, however, we cannot allow our gardai or citizens be subject to harm or even death. The thugs understand right from wrong and should not be spared any punishment whatsoever.
Arrest them for attempted murder, show zero leniency.
@Seán Ó Briain: exactly nothing less than attempt murder and also into the special criminal court no jury ….send out a strong message……
@Seán Ó Briain: Judge nolan will say different. Get use to that fact.
@Sean O Callaghan: Respect for your childish comment again Sean.
@Sean O Callaghan: the big Liverpool man at it again I see lol
@Aidy McBride:Stop picking on me Aidy. Shame on you.
@Seán Ó Briain: Most of them are under 18, so not going to happen.
@Paul Gorry: lol
@Paul Gorry: Paul does this go on in Liverpool, asking for a friend.
You won’t see that in Germany. Our cops have backup. And guns. And authority. Scary to see the State not in control!
After seeing the videos, can anyone explain exactly why they need to be off work..I get it, it was a potentially traumatic experience… But it was more of a bumper get together than actually being rammed!!! I don’t get it.. What injuries were sustained?
@Ryan: I really hope they are ok but I agree with Ryan, this was no HUGE head-on collision, Again, I do not condone what happened, it just seems odd that you could get really hurt out of that!
@Antoin O’hEidhin: its mentally traumatizing- if you were in your place of work and your life was
put in danger suddenly .. with no one to help or support you??these gardai were working !
@Ryan: it was not a potentially traumatising — it was traumatising without a doubt. Have some respect for the gardai who are there to help citizens and protect as much as they can. Don’t begrudge having to take sick leave for gods sake !
@Ryan: well guess what why don’t you head down to the place we’re it happened let these guys bumper you twice been In many of a fender bender and no matter how slight it can be a shock to the system
@Dublin sunrise: You compleyely missed the point of the post, and what do you mean sock leave? It clearly states “due to their injuries” but does no state what injuries…. A little bit of perspective here…. If we have Guarda taking time off “due to injuries” for something like this, then we ate all truely screwed… My god..
@Ryan: and tbh if it was the other way around these guards were as you say bumping these cars you probably be screaming for their heads for traumatizing these poor unfortunate souls that have nothing else to do but create mayhem
@Ryan: also as they were two female officers look at the photo if that was your sister or mother that was in the time and place same thing done to them do you not think they would be traumatized by that
@Deirdre Meredith: F#€K! Two female guards in that situation had no chance.
@Antoin O’hEidhin: have you ever been rammed in your car?
@Ryan: the report said injuries, not trauma. I don’t see how they got injuries. Will there be a whiplash claim going in?
@Ryan: what medical qualifications do you have? They have seen a GP who told/advised them to refrain from work … do you want their full private medical history publicised or just the private records for this incident …
@Peter McGlynn: so many doctors comment on the journal.
@Riaf: yes, that is why I have commented!
Hopefully the will fully recover and get 100% support from the senior management…but unfortunately they will probably receive letters about their sick from someone nameless wonder in garda hq ….and then probably get paperwork under the garda code for turning on blue lights and sirens with being qualified….and this will probably happen in a few months when it has gone quiet in the media
@Dave Ryan: Gas man,true though
When I saw the video 1st I thought it was from a tv show I couldn’t believe they would have the b**ls to ram an official Garda car . Shocking acts of violence.. bring back the monkey squad
We are suffering from brain drain and mass emigration at the moment. Anyone who works for the government needs a massive pay increase, yesterday. Anyone with any sense is leaving the civil service and the Gardai. The pay has not kept up with inflation over the years and is certainly not keeping up with massive inflation we’re seeing now, coupled with the cost of living crisis, energy crisis, the war, Brexit and Covid. The only way to retain staff is to improve conditions, improve morale and most importantly improve pay. But they seem to be doing the opposite.
@Tomo: are you having a laugh ??? According to CSO figures, the average weekly wage in the Public Service is €750 and the average weekly wage in the Private Sector is €360 pw, a ridiculous situation given that the Public Service is a cost to the economy and generates nothing to that economy, whilst it is the Private Sector who generate the entire economy, then add to that the ridiculous pensions into the mix, the whole thing is unsustainable.
Absolute sc#m.
Perfect punishment
For a lesser sentence
Send them to an uninhabitable island say Innis shark island no mobile phone no data no land line no tv no shelter no food nothing just fend for yourself 24 months detention.
Serious sentence
Export them to Ukraine to fight on the front line or use them as human land mine detection specialists
If they survive they’ll know the true value of respect if they don’t survive ah well.
@: Under 18s to be accompanied by both parents
Should have called in the Army and Nuked all them absolute wasters
These guys will hit a wall sometime and it’ll be poetic justice when they go up in a ball of flames
@Aidy McBride: and you will have the masses crying they were such good kids never done any wrong
@Deirdre Meredith: it happened in Derry and the joyriders basically had a tribute to the guy at the funeral that involves stealing more cars and hand braking them around roundabouts. The boy in question lost control of his stolen motor and hit a tree, his mates legged it and he died in the car after it caught fire.
If the Garda had a decent vehicle for dealing with these incidents. Give them some armoured land Rovers. Let the boys ram that and see if the still have the balls for attacking the Garda after a head to head with 6 ton of armour plating. Equip the Garda with non lethal crowd control equipment that has been proven to work in other countries like pepper paint balls.
A big compo claim coming true for what’a don’t know
Would have serious concerns about the anti social behaviour (are we really surprised!!). The event is symbolic a microcosm of a subgroup in our society that are not been managed. Society cannot function without rules. Rules will not be followed without consequences. Rules and Consequences will not be accepted without respect for the individuals applying the rules.
I would question the Risk Assessment around driving into this situation ,however in saying that if they drove away they would have been accused of something else ! (Brave but somewhat irresponsible). Its a good question are the joy riders still on the streets? If not, the action taken by Gardai should be all over social media as a way of showing society that this behaviour is not going to be tolerated.
That’s no way you’d walk away from that, their backs will certainly be damaged.
@Caroline Otoole: Ah stop will ya
@Caroline Otoole: You sound like a professional claimer, Caroline… Lol.
Will you stop.
All original reports were there was no injuries… Hope they’re OK.. But in fairness I’ve had bigger impacts playing ball…
Sentencing here has been a joke for sometime now, do five years for murder and walking the streets again. Can’t say who is in control of this, surely judges have to answer to the people?? Get tough, 2 strikes your in and without your WiFi, TV, cuddle if feeling down. Get tough but also try and give those who are interested some sort of leg up.
I’m not seeing why the cops are off work, wasn’t exactly ramming. You’d get a harder hit in bumping cars at the fairground
@Sean Mc Cabe: How do you know what the impact was .
@Sean Mc Cabe: your post shows that you’re part of the problem along with others throwing up infantile comments.
@Sean Mc Cabe: Asking for a friend, what is your medical training.???
@Sean Mc Cabe: it’s unbelievable alright
The Dublin Gardai need to invest in a few Bayraktars.
Enough is enough everyone. Two Garadi were attacked responding to reports of criminal activities in an area. Let’s not forget these Garadi are someone’s brothers, sons, partnets and possibly someone’s father. They know leaving their homes in the morning there is always an element of danger to them doing their jobs , but to be deliberately be set up and attacked is not and should be tolerated. I am not a Garda , have no one associated to the Gardai , but if I’m in trouble criminality wise they are the first I call and I’d say its the same for the people in Cherry Orchard. So let’s mute our comments about , ” it was only a little bump , bigger dents in the dodgems, how could they be hurt ” , we weren’t there , we don’t know .
@Michael Costello: we don’t need to be there, there’s plenty of videos around showing the little tap on the front bumper they got.
@Johnny Honest: anyone who has been in an accident are in shock. They were driven into, people were cheering, shouting ram them. Your in that Garda car and you see, feel and hear this its not until later, and it may well be much later, when you get out of the situation you feel the effects of the incident. Like you I was not there, I was not in the squad car, I did not feel the bumps, I did not hear the crowd baying for blood. TG
Let’s be very honest here, it was hardly a head on collision. They got a tap on the front bumper ffs. Off due to injuries is complete bol**x. More than likely will have a claim in now too.
I’m not saying what happened was right. But seriously.
Their Doctors certified that the two Gardai go on sick leave ,are people suggesting that the Doctors are lying.
i thank god i don’t live there, such a bunch of mings.
These thugs and their parents should be brought to a court which will not be easy on them. The bystanders who applauded and urged the ramming should be done for incitement also.
In saying all that, the ramming was only a fender bender and not one that necessitates time off work.
Can you imagine what would happen those thugs in America.
@BadBob: whatever
I have a pain in my rear end continuously listening to this sort of crime. How about getting a job, ” Nobody will hire me he says” well then retrain. ” I never went to skule he says” well go now as you are doing nothing else. Then when young Broncho turns up in court he has 75 previous convictions and all the Time I and normal people like me are paying for this charade. Joke.
Wow your very CHEERFUL i bet.
Rehabilitation is the way forward put positive courses and buildings promote sport you won’t save them all but the majority will be and then they will be doing something positive instead of what went on and the gardai should be OK it’s what they train and sign up for they wanted the job and should be expecting to have to deal with crime
Did DREW Harris tell us that these two Garda where not injured in this incident or I miss understood. If these Garda are injured wish then a speedy recovery and lock these rogues up
have your say