Bertie Ahern has called for a “new order of doing things” on trade in which Ireland and Europe become less dependent on the United States. 

Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump announced a universal "lowered reciprocal tariff of 10%" for most countries after days of turbulence on Wall Street. 

Previously, EU exports to America were due to face tariffs of 20% and Brussels had planned a number of retaliatory measures for US imports. 

However, the former Taoiseach warned it would be “unwise” to assume everything will be alright and that protectionism in the United States is not dead. 

“I think that we have to work out a new order of doing things,” he told The Anton Savage Show. 

“One of things that I think the EU should be doing is focusing on trade flows among ourselves - especially in the services. 

“Because that’s where the power for this century is economically. 

“I think there’s far more we can do between the other countries [of the EU]. 

“Then there’s all of the other countries; there’s the global trade group that are members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). 

“That takes in a lot of countries; they’re massive countries in terms of trade.” 

President Donald Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Mr Ahern added that while America “holds all the cards” on security matters, they do not hold a similar monopoly in economic terms. 

“ I think there’s a huge opportunity,” he said. 

“If you take in that group and South Korea and small, open economies like Norway - they count for 34% of global trade for imports. 

“So, there’s huge opportunities to develop constructive agreements that maybe Europe didn’t work as hard on over the last 10 or 20-years. 

“Having seen what the American President can do, what he still might try to do, I think it’s far better off we start making alternative deals - including one with him - but looking also at the rest of the world.” 

Taoiseach Micheál Martin with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. Photograph: Tasos Katopodis / Government of Ireland

Mr Ahern said the past few weeks have been a “hugely massive error by the President” and that the US economy has done very well out of free trade. 

“I can’t understand a President talking down his own economy,” he said. 

“They’ve been the most successful economy in the world; up at the top of the G7 for three decades. 

“So, the difficulty now is where does he want to go? I think from Europe’s point of view, they handled it correctly, they didn’t respond. 

“Now they have to work their way around what Europe thinks is a fair and a good deal.” 

Last year, Ireland exported €72.6 billion of goods to the United States.

Main image: US President George W. Bush Bertie Ahern in 2007. Picture by: REUTERS / Alamy Stock Photo.