Donald Trump’s tariffs could result in 200,000 job losses in Ireland, the country's biggest union SIPTU has warned.
The US President is set to announce his trade war with the EU next Wednesday in what he has dubbed 'Liberation Day' for America.
But SIPTU fears it could be doomsday for this country if the Government doesn’t move swiftly to protect both the pharmaceutical and Foreign Direct Investment sectors.
It demanded that Taoiseach Micheál Martin set up a special task force to prepare and deal with the impending tariffs war.
The union’s Deputy General Secretary said: "We represent thousands of workers across the pharmaceutical and medical device’s sectors and we need to do everything to protect people’s livelihoods.
"The Government has a role to play in that along with the trade unions and employers.
"But further down the road if these tariffs are biting hard and there are job losses, we need to look at improving such things as statutory redundancy entitlements."
He warned 200,000 jobs are at risk.
Ireland has the most to lose of any EU country in the trade war because of the amount of US multinationals based here. Trump wants to bring them all back to the States.
Yesterday the Taoiseach urged people to stay calm as the country got ready for the Trump tariffs.
He said we were heading into uncharted territory that could fundamentally change Ireland’s economic model.
Mr Martin said: "The Government is working flat out to deal with what will unfold and we are working on all fronts so we can navigate through what will be a very difficult period."
He expects the tariffs showdown to play out over the next one to three years.
There was more bad news for the Government over the weekend when the latest data showed the number of tourists who visited Ireland in February, 304,000, had dropped by 30 per cent on the same month last year.
Spending by foreign visitors was also down by 31 per cent.
Independent Ireland TD Michael Collins claimed the collapse in tourists will have a devastating impact on small towns and villages all over the country.
He blamed the lack of accommodation and the State using hotels and guest houses as refugee centres.
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