'EU deal with US only way to stop carnage'

THE "only way to ease the carnage on the stock markets" is for the US and the EU to negotiate on tariffs, Taoiseach Micheal Martin has warned.

- LOUISE BURNE

As he stated that there is a "lot to play for yet on the pharma side", Tanaiste Simon Harris warned that the EU targeting the tech sector in a tariff war with the US would be the "nuclear option".

EU Foreign Ministers met in Luxembourg yesterday to discuss retaliatory tariffs on US goods following US President Donald Trump's tariffs on EU steel and aluminium.

All 27 EU member states will vote on the list tomorrow.

The global stock markets have been in turmoil since Trump announced tariffs last Wednesday, with stocks and shares tumbling in value.

Speaking in Cork yesterday, the Taoiseach said global financial turbulence could improve if the US and the EU could negotiate and reach an agreement on tariffs.

Mr Martin said: "The [European] Commission will, in all likelihood, produce a list of potential countermeasures.