{"id":5201,"date":"2025-09-07T06:47:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T06:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/5201\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T06:47:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T06:47:09","slug":"taoiseach-micheal-martin-insists-ireland-is-pro-trade-except-when-it-comes-to-mercosur-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/5201\/","title":{"rendered":"Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin insists Ireland is pro-trade … except when it comes to Mercosur \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Government will be seeking an Irish answer to the particularly Irish dilemma of the Mercosur trade deal<\/a> in the weeks ahead. It should be interesting to watch. <\/p>\n

The idea of a State that makes its living from trade opposing such a deal with all the opportunities it would bring is bizarre, particularly given the backdrop of the trade upheavals caused by US president Donald Trump<\/a>. <\/p>\n

For the moment, that is where we are. But senior Ministers will already be quietly looking for ways to wriggle off the hook they created when they promised Irish opposition to Mercosur in another one of the \u201cregret at leisure\u201d commitments in the programme for government,<\/a> alongside the one promising to reconsider the hospitality VAT issue.<\/p>\n

Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin and T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris <\/a>said when the European Commission published its proposals for the deal this week that the Republic was against the agreement. This is because of the risk to the beef sector <\/a>via competition from Latin American product on the European Union market.<\/p>\n

Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon is to be sent out to see if the potential \u201ccoalition of the willing\u201d to oppose the deal in the EU will be enough to block it. Whatever about waiting to see how the ball breaks, the idea of the State whipping up opposition is not even remotely clever.<\/p>\n

Heydon would want to watch his back, too. Martin and Harris were careful to leave a way out. The \u201cprudent and responsible thing\u201d was to examine the detail and the safeguards being put in place to protect farmers, according to Harris. The potential escape routes are being left open. The Republic will hold out for as large a share as possible of the compensation package for farmers and then \u2013 if the deal looks like going through \u2013 fold.<\/p>\n

\"\"Why are some independent Irish breweries turning off their taps and closing?<\/p>\n

Senior Ministers are already stretching credibility to breaking point. Having indicated our current opposition to the deal, the Taoiseach rocked up at an event held by Ibec, the business lobby group, on Thursday evening and pointed out in his speech<\/a> that trade is vital for us and \u201cis the only credible way for us to provide the jobs and investment our people rely on\u201d. He added, remarkably given the context: \u201cIn spite of this, there are many in our political sphere who remain viscerally opposed to trade and who celebrate every action that delays new trade agreements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, just to hammer the point home, the Taoiseach said: \u201cI want to make it very clear that my Government will always be pro-trade … Where new trade agreements are available and are balanced, then it is in Ireland\u2019s interest to ratify them as quickly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, no doubt the Government will use the argument that Mercosur is not balanced and, in particular, disadvantages beef farmers. Ministers have also mentioned environmental concerns, though these haven\u2019t stopped them from supporting an EU trade agreement with Donald \u201cdrill, baby, drill\u201d Trump. <\/p>\n

It is, of course, the particular power of the farming and beef lobbies that is the key political factor. Even Ibec, the champion of commerce, has not come out in favour of the deal, with Meat Industry Ireland, one of its constituent bodies, strongly opposed. Official Ireland, it seems, is in a bind, favouring free trade, but only if it doesn\u2019t upset anybody. Only Chambers Ireland, the body representing the Chambers of Commerce, has come out in support of Mercosur.<\/a><\/p>\n

The reality is that Trump\u2019s economic nationalism has changed the game. The EU \u2013 and this State \u2013 need new trade partners and new political alliances. Europe needs to spread its bets, and the Republic, with its particular reliance on United States trade and investment, has a big stake in this succeeding. <\/p>\n

The beef sector can make its case, arguing it has to adhere to tougher environmental and food standards than its new competitors \u2013 though, as ever, it does so in apocryphal terms. The amount of beef entering under the deal will be limited, only about 1.5 per cent of European Union beef production on EU estimates, and there will be safeguards and compensation.<\/p>\n

Also, we might remember that the Irish Farmers\u2019 Association argued that \u201cbeef will be the big loser\u201d on foot of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement <\/a>between the EU and Canada, which came into force provisionally in 2017. In fact, Canadian beef has not flooded into the European Union. Meanwhile, Irish beef exports to Canada have risen from practically zero in 2016 to more than \u20ac22 million last year \u2013 a nice new market.<\/p>\n

We will have to see how the Mercosur debate plays out. Politics in France, which has led the opposition, is in flux. Initial indications are that Italy may back the deal. Two big countries would need to go against it, along with some smaller ones like the Republic, if the deal is to fail the qualified majority test to pass its central trade terms. <\/p>\n

Our vote is unlikely to be decisive. So do we cynically vote against and hope it passes? Or \u201creluctantly\u201d fall into line when it becomes obvious that it will pass? Or claim a \u201c victory\u201d when we secure a certain amount of the promised compensation for farmers? <\/p>\n

The Mercosur economies \u2013 Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay \u2013 are relatively closed to trade historically, and a consultancy report commissioned by the previous government in 2021<\/a> points to the \u201cfirst mover\u201d advantage EU exporters would have over other countries were the deal to pass. For the State, there are export opportunities in chemicals and pharma, electronics, electrical equipment, processed food and spirits, particularly whiskey and services.<\/p>\n

It is part of a story of the EU trying to diversify, building on current trade deals and aiming for new ones \u2013 with India also in the pipeline. This is important economically. But it is also important politically, in an era when the European Union is saying to the US that it wants to be the free trade champion as Trump turns the country inward. Against this backdrop, it is simply not credible for one of the EU states that benefits most from free trade to vote against Mercosur.<\/p>\n

The best-case scenario is that the State secures a decent share of the compensation package for farmers and supports the deal. The worst case is embarrassment and a burning of political capital in the EU at a time when our stock of this precious commodity has already run down significantly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Government will be seeking an Irish answer to the particularly Irish dilemma of the Mercosur trade deal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,6096,43],"class_list":["post-5201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mercosur","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}