Irish Examiner view: Trump's tariff threats make this the time to get serious
As Taoiseach Micheál Martin has pointed out, the prospect of the tariffs threatened by US president Donald Trump has been enough to make companies pause plans for development and expansion. File picture: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
Today we are expected to learn more detail about Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs, a plan which seems to have been hanging over the entire world for a very long time.
That detail may not be the final word, of course — we have seen in the case of Canada, for instance, that tariffs may be suggested, imposed, withdrawn, modified, and reimposed with dizzying speed.
Nonetheless, this an issue with the power to discomfit and disturb. As the Taoiseach has pointed out, the prospect of tariffs has been enough to make companies pause plans for development and expansion, unsurprisingly — what business would invest significant sums with a potentially huge leap in costs on the way?
When that detail emerges we can expect a response from the EU. One small disadvantage in Mr Trump trumpeting his intentions is that he forewarns adversaries and targets.
As a result, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said this week: “Europe has not started this confrontation...
"We do not necessarily want to retaliate but, if it is necessary, we have a strong plan to retaliate and we will use it.”
(It should be noted that Ms von der Leyen added that Europe was “open for negotiations”.)
The genuine nervousness about Mr Trump’s plans and Europe’s need to make such a strong statement of intent should underline the seriousness of the situation — which makes the ongoing focus in the Dáil on speaking rights both wearying and revelatory. Wearying because this is a procedural mess that has been ongoing for weeks; revelatory because it shows us members’ priorities.
The fact that Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy survived the no-confidence motion yesterday in the Dáil underlines those impressions. The vote may have been important to TDs but for most people concerned about the future it was little more than a needless distraction at a fraught time.
Yesterday, a few readers may have been blindsided by one of the great traditions, that of the April Fool’s Day prank story.
Over the years, there have been some classics of the genre — going all the way back to the 50s, the BBC convinced millions of its viewers that that year’s Swiss spaghetti harvest was a bumper crop, a prank easier to accomplish when pasta was a less familiar part of people’s shopping, admittedly.
More recent Irish examples have included stories as various as Supermac’s supposed plans to put its name on Croke Park last year to an announcement yesterday that bears were to be released on Bere Island in a rewilding scheme, which at least had a euphonious ring to it.
Is it becoming more and more difficult to create a classic April Fool’s Day prank, however?
The true challenge is to dream up a proposition which is inherently ridiculous or laughable but which may also be vaguely credible, even if only for a heartbeat, before realisation dawns on the listener or reader (the traditional cut-off point of noon has a sound technical basis, as the defences of the prank’s victim may not be pin-sharp first thing in the morning).
One of the more modern challenges to the modern April Fool’s Day prank was illustrated yesterday, when Irish band Lankum announced on social media that they were planning to play at the launch event for former MMA fighter Conor McGregor’s bid for the presidency of Ireland.
This conforms to that inherent demand that a classic April Fool contain some grain of believability, but introducing a note of politics or current affairs also works to undermine the joke.
In the current environment, there can be so little regard for facts and truth that one has to examine in detail announcements which are made every day of the year. Everywhere declarations and statements which would have been inconceivable five or 10 years ago now appear as a matter of routine.
US president Donald Trump’s breezy discussion this week of potential buyers for the social media giant TikTok, for instance, would have been an unprecedented interference in commercial matters once, but not now.
The need to separate truths which would once have been unthinkable from April Fool’s Day stories tells us much about today’s society.
Bruen was a hugely talented and successful thriller writer, whose many books led in turn to popular TV adaptations. Readers may recall the Jack Taylor series starring Iain Glen, which was based on Bruen’s character of the same name.
The movie was based on a Bruen novel, and its central character, played by Jason Statham, may indeed be the only film hero who uses a hurley to dish out physical punishment to his opponents.
The character first explains to his enemies what the hurley is and how it’s used, and Bruen was speaking from experience. On one occasion when travelling to the US, he had to explain to a bemused customs officer what exactly the curved ash sticks in his luggage were for.
He also collected plenty of awards — a Shamus Award for the best crime novel of the year, as well as Macavity, Barry, and Edgar Awards at various stages of his career.
Bruen lived and worked in many places around the world but he was born in Galway and returned to live there, setting many of his books in that city.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
