Mayor of Limerick reacts to US president Donald Trump's tariffs

MAYOR John Moran says firms operating across Limerick should look eastwards to Europe rather than west to the USA.

It comes in the wake of American president Donald Trump’s announcement of tariffs of 20% on certain goods arriving into the USA from the European Union.

In essence, the measures introduced by Mr Trump mean American consumers there will pay 20% more on items coming into the USA.

His actions are designed to increase the cost of foreign goods relative to domestically produced items in the hope of revitalising the American economy.

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Mayor Moran said: “It’s all about opening up new links for our companies which are not in the USA. There are 450 million people in Europe (European Union). It’s bigger than the USA. So that’s where our companies should look to.”

The first citizen said he has already held meetings with a delegation from near Lisbon in Portugal, and is also set to visit the British cities of Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester where he will meet their executive mayors.

“If we focus on how do we get our foodstuffs, stuff we manufacture, services we provide, to shops in Europe, to people buying services there, we can hopefully counter-act some of this,” he said.

Mayor Moran said it highlights the importance of making sure foreign direct investment companies are “not the only show in town” locally.

“It’s important to what we do. But we need small to medium sized companies,” he added.

He acknowledged the actions of US president Trump are out of the control of people in Limerick.

“What we can do is try and drive on with our plan to make it easier to do business in Limerick, reduce the cost of housing, make it cheaper and more competitive. So at least if a business doesn’t want to raise their prices on items sold into the USA, we can work with them on the pressures and costs,” concluded the mayor.