Listen - AgriFocus: Will tariffs hit food producers and consumers?
In this episode of the AgriFocus podcast, Agriland's Stella Meehan sits down with Carol Lynch, tax partner and head of customs and international trade services with BDO Ireland, to discuss what has become a hotly debated issue - tariffs.
With Ireland exporting 90% of its agri-food produce international exports are hugely important to Ireland's domestic economy.
In this podcast Carol Lynch discusses exactly what a tariff is and what the impact of the US president's plan to place tariffs on EU agri-food exports to the US could mean for Ireland and Irish exports.
In the podcast she also discusses what Irish businesses can do in advance of the proposed US tariffs coming in to effect.
"What I would do is look at your supply chain and analyse what would a 10% hit, what would 20%, 25% hit mean - where do you get your raw materials from can you source them if I'm coming from the US?
"Can you source them from Europe for example that would be a very easy switch, it might be a bit more expensive possibly but you've got to factor in the cost of the additional tariffs so where you might have not chosen Europe before maybe it's better now," Carol Lynch said.
She also advised businesses, among other measures, to look at UK options and to investigate if they could start diversifying their sales into other markets.
The fortnightly AgriFocus podcast series takes a closer look at some of the key issues that directly impact on farmers, rural communities and the agri-sector.
