Michael O’Leary has said Donald Trump’s tariffs are “doomed to fail” and described his economic policies as America “shooting itself in the foot”. 

Yesterday, the US President announced sweeping tariffs on foreign imports in the United States. 

Goods from tiny, impoverished Lesotho in Africa will face a 50% tariff, while those from the European Union will be charged a 20% import tariff. 

President Trump said it would “supercharge our industrial domestic base” but Mr O’Leary said protectionism was a failed economic policy. 

“Isolationism doesn’t work,” he told Newstalk Breakfast. 

“If isolationism worked, North Korea would be the world’s greatest economy. 

“Free trade works.” 

"Our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world. We will be the envy of every nation, and we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer. We're going to reclaim our wealth. This is the beginning of Liberation Day in America." –President Trump pic.twitter.com/JB8P51mhSb

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 2, 2025

The Ryanair boss said US tariffs would be “deeply damaging to the world economy” but said Americans would suffer the most. 

“A lot depends on what reciprocal tariffs other countries impose, particularly China and the EU,” he said. 

“An awful lot of American companies are going to be suffering significant damage because they manufacture a lot of goods in Europe and import them back into the US. 

“Free trade has made the United States significantly richer since the Second World War; it has also made the European Union significantly  richer. 

“One of the reasons why Brexit is so damaging to the UK economy is they left a free trade area with Europe. 

“And I have little doubt these idiotic tariffs are doomed to fail as well.” 

"IT'S LIBERATION DAY IN AMERICA!" –President Trump 🇺🇸🦅 pic.twitter.com/UvgJEpJgEW

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 2, 2025

Mr O’Leary described reciprocal tariffs by the European Union as a “good idea” and said it was “inevitable” that America would face some kind of retaliation. 

“The difficulty we face is that Europe has a big trade deficit in many manufactured goods with the US and we export more to the US than we import,” he said.  

“But there are services; you’ve a lot of American companies who get a free rider over here in Europe.”

A Netflix login screen is seen on on a smartphone display. Picture by: Rokas Tenys / Alamy Stock Photo

Mr O’Leary said there are certain things politicians in Ireland and the European Union can do to protect the economy from the fallout of a global trade war. 

“All we can do in Ireland and in Europe is to continue to trade with each other,” he said. 

“It also puts pressure on the European Union and Ireland to be much more competitive. 

“In that respect, it draws to the top of the table things where our Government is clearly failing. 

“I would start there with the Dublin Airport cap; we can’t afford to be shooting ourselves in the foot with these kinds of idiotic measures when Trump is doing such damage to the wider economy.” 

Ryanair aeroplanes with the control tower in the background at Dublin Airport. Photo: Sasko Lazarov/© RollingNews.ie

When asked about the impact on Ryanair, Mr O’Leary said they buy “an awful lot of aircraft from America” and extra costs will almost certainly be passed onto travellers. 

“If the tariff wars spread to aircraft or aircraft parts, then clearly it will lead to higher costs for airlines and probably higher fares for our customers,” he said.

Main image: Michael O'Leary. Picture by: Alamy.com