Trump accuses Ireland to meet US companies with Taoiseach | Ireland

Donald Trump has accused Ireland that the US pharmaceutical industry and the tax revenue that the US Finance Ministry should have paid in one fell swoop to Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, who was hoping, would have been created without prejudice to a visit to the White House Day.

The US President showed reluctant respect for Martin, alternately and a compliment to him and at the same time started several broad sides against the EU.

He repeatedly aimed at Ireland’s historical low tax policy, which contributed to luring us multinational companies such as Pfizer, Boston Scientific and Eli Lilly on the shores.

Big Pharma is now driving the annual exports in the USA worth € 72 billion (60 billion GBP), whereby taxes in Ireland are paid to drugs that are consumed in the USA.

“The Irish are smart, yes, clever people,” said Trump. “You have taken over our pharmaceutical companies and other companies. This beautiful island with 5 million people has the entire US pharmaceutical industry.”

The US President announced reporters in the Oval Office that he did not want to punish the Irish too much, as this could risk support in the American-Irish vote, but said that he was determined to “withdraw the wealth of his country” and predicted an easy struggle with the EU.

“I think Irish love Trump,” he said. “We won the Irish with an enormous amount of (their) coordination. I got it pretty well unless I did something very stupid like her country, her wonderful place of all companies. Maybe (then) I would lose Irish vote. “

Trump also said that former presidents had “lost great segments of the US economy to Europe” and repeated his claim that “the EU was established to exploit the United States”.

With reference to the successful lawsuit of the EU against Apple, which she forced to pay EUR 13 billion in Ireland (11 billion GBP) in back taxes, he said: “Apple was treated very badly … This is unfair.”

In one of several flawless moments, Martin pointed out that Ireland fought against the EU Court of Justice -a step that the country’s desire found to keep to US technology companies such as Intel, Microsoft and Google who built up their EU headquarters in and around Dublin.

He also said that Irish companies Ryanair and Aercap, the world’s largest aircraft rental company, buy more American Boeing aircraft than any other.

Trump nodded and said: “I don’t accuse you. I accuse the European Union. The European Union is pursued according to our companies.

“We have a problem with the European Union. They do not take our agricultural products. You don’t take our cars. We take millions of cars, BMWs and Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen and everything. We take millions of cars. “

With regard to the former German Chancellor, Trump added: “I said to Angela Merkel at that time, I said: ‘Angela, how many Chevrolets do we have in the middle of Munich?’ (She answered 🙂 why, none ‘… no, I am not satisfied with the European Union. “

He said he didn’t want to “hurt” Ireland, but just wanted what was fair.

“I would like to see that the United States have not been so stupid for so many years, not just with Ireland, with everyone,” he said.

After a one -hour discussion for the benefit of the press, Trump and Martin’s subsequent private bilateral only lasted 10 minutes and underlined the president’s emphasis on the media.

Trump’s comments came when the EU revealed plans to impose “countermeasures” for US imports worth up to 26 billion euros after Washington introduced 25% tariffs for global imports of steel and aluminum.

An EU official said that there was no point in negotiating with the United States at this stage, and said it was like it was arguing.

“It is not very productive to negotiate the removal of the tariffs now,” said the official. “They put a stinking fish on the table and then negotiate to remove this stinking fish, and then they say: ‘Wow, we have a great result: there is no smelly fish on the table.’ This is not a very productive conversation.

“What we are looking for in the negotiations is a productive discussion that it is the largest trade and investment relationship in the world, namely the transatlantic relationship.”