Bertie Ahern has claimed that Donald Trump’s re-election could be a ‘huge problem’ for the Irish economy.
Those who didn’t stay up into the early hours of Wednesday to watch live coverage of the election, woke up to the news that former President Trump was on the verge of being re-elected to the White House.
With Fox News declaring Mr. Trump the winner at around 7am, Mr. Trump claimed at a conference from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida that he has won a "magnificent victory for the American people" against Kamala Harris.
Trump Card
Hours later, Mr. Trump surpassed the 270 electoral college votes required to return to the White House.
In an attempt to persuade tech giants back to the US, Mr. Trump said in his campaign that he would reduce the nation’s corporation tax to 15%, the same level as in Ireland.
It was recently reported that Ireland took in €21.4 billion in corporation tax in the ten months to October of this year, an increase of 35.9% on the same period last year.
Bertie's Verdict
Speaking on Wednesday morning’s edition of Newstalk Breakfast, former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern warned that the Irish Government tends to have a "harder job" working with Republican administrations.
"We have to get on with working with him and working with his administration. Cutting corporation tax down to 15% would be a big problem for us. Tariffs on everything into America from Europe, 20%, would be a huge problem for us.
"The repatriation of profits which effect reinvestments by multinational, pharmaceutical and medical appliances – that would be a huge problem for us.
"These are big issues and if I was in the position where I used to be, I’d be out getting all agencies and people… out there and talking to his advisors about the implications of some of these issues and trying to build up a base," he said.
Warning
According to Mr. Ahern, Ireland has been made "great again" by the Government’s economic policies and predicted that Irish politicians will have to "get out there and fight on these issues."
However, Mr. Ahern pointed out that Mr. Trump "never delivers on what he says" and "most of it is just bluster at these [rallies] that he did."
Despite the polls leading up to the election indicating that Kamala Harris would become the first female President of the United States, Mr. Trump is likely to win the popular vote against her.
Crediting Mr. Trump for focusing his campaign on the economy, Mr. Ahern said: "He kept on inflation – it’s the old story 'it’s the economy stupid.' On the other side of it, I think the Democrats were all over the place.
"Joe Biden should have really packed up at the midterm – he had a great victory – and it was fairly obvious, from there on, he was in trouble.
"You didn’t have to be a political expert to see that."
*This article was originally published on Extra.ie.
Comments