JOKER'S TAX ON PENGUINS

Bizarre raft of charges include Antarctic islands Call to step back from brink before EU retaliates

- LOUISE BURNE

TAOISEACH Micheal Martin has urged the US to step back from the brink and negotiate with the EU on sweeping new tariffs, insisting: "This is not the end of the story."

However, US President Donald Trump's press secretary Karoline Leavitt declared yesterday: "This is not a negotiation."

And Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick warned that President Trump is "not going to back off".

It comes as Trump has been mocked for slapping tariffs on uninhabited islands.

He has hit the volcanic Heard and McDonald Islands in Antarctica with a 10 per cent tariff - despite them only being home to colonies of penguins.

CONCERNS

Meanwhile, as the Taoiseach expressed concerns that a slowdown in investment could lead to global "recessionary trends", Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers warned that the last time such drastic changes to trade were proposed, it led to the Great Depression.

On Wednesday, Mr Trump confirmed that EU exports to the US, including those from Ireland, will be subject to a new 20 per cent tariff.

European politicians will meet in the coming days to discuss whether retaliatory tariffs will be introduced, with a decision expected by mid-April.

Speaking in Dublin yesterday, EU Commissioner Michael McGrath stated that around €380billion of EU exports would be subject to the additional tariffs.

New tariffs will apply to around 70 per cent of all EU exports to the US, resulting in around €80bn in additional duties on EU exports.

However, he could not confirm what proportion of this will apply to Ireland.