'Significant questions' for UK government on how Irish Sea border will limit NI gains from Trump trade deal - Allister

Jim Allister was reacting to the “landmark economic deal” between the two countries – the first such agreement the Trump administration has reached on trade since he introduced wide-ranging tariffs on US imports.

Ahead of the announcement, Mr Trump described the deal as “full and comprehensive”. However, the deal covers only a limited set of measures involving specific sectors.

In the immediate aftermath of the deal, the UUP MLA Steve Aiken raised concerns that it may harden the Irish Sea trade border.

Jim Allister MP says that the details of the deal “remain less than clear” but said it is a certainty that Northern Ireland is “now subject to the EU customs code and is treated as the EU for many purposes”.

He says there is “a serious risk that the benefits of any UK-US trade deal will only benefit Great Britain, and that NI businesses that import from the US will end up paying much higher tariffs than comparable companies in Great Britain unless the EU does a comparable deal with Washington”.

“The detail provided by the UK Government about the deal has been limited. The following constitutes a series of provisional reflections on the basis of the limited information they have provided, and which may well need to be adjusted as things become clearer.

“In terms of steel, under the deal it seems it will be easier for US manufacturers to buy steel from Great Britain at zero tariffs, and apparently no quotas, than it will be for UK manufacturers in Northern Ireland, because of the way the Irish Sea border places a 25% tariff rate quota on steel movements from GB to NI, as if moving steel to a foreign country.

“The 25% tariff rate quota means that once the quota has been used up, steel moving from GB to NI faces a 25% tariff when no such tariff would apply in relation to movements of steel between Great Britain and the United States. This implies a greater sense of joining between the United States and GB than between GB and Northern Ireland”, he said.

“If the deal pertains (as the US suggests it does) to manufacturing components that manufacturers buy in to Northern Ireland to process, then they will be left at a very serious disadvantage compared to similar companies in Great Britain, especially after 31 July, because it will be much more expensive for them to get the same components, directly impacting their profit margins.

“In terms of beef, a reciprocal ‘tariff rate quota’ has been agreed. We have been told the quota -13,000 tonnes of beef both ways - but not what the reduced tariff rate will be. The Secretary of State did not share the reduced tariff rate, and no one asked him what it was. What does this mean for Northern Ireland? To the extent that the quota is linked to a change in the actual tariff rate this will afford those in the UK who can access the deal an opportunity to sell to the USA to the quota at a reduced tariff, just as beef farmers in the USA will be able to do in those parts of the UK can offer the reduced tariff rate. However, it is unclear how the UK government can set the tariff rate in Northern Ireland because we are subject to the EU customs code. Without the freedom to offer a reduced tariff rate, the quota would be meaningless and so, given the reciprocal nature of this agreement, it is hard to see how it could apply to Northern Ireland. In this context we will just be left in the EU currently threatened with 25% + tariffs on US goods from 31 July unless the EU does a comparable deal with the United States.

“These reflections present significant questions that the Government will need to answer next week.”, Mr Allister said.