House of Commons debate on Northern Ireland's place in the UK and Donald Trump's new tariff regime, 08-04-25
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00:00The Secretary of State has said that the EU will take action in relation to tariffs in what is its best interests.
00:11But businesses in Northern Ireland expect this government to take action in what is the best interests of the United Kingdom,
00:18including Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom.
00:22He talks about how this can be all resolved by the reimbursement scheme.
00:27The fact of the matter is that the reimbursement scheme has failed.
00:32There are masses of information to be produced by businesses.
00:36There are delays in payments.
00:38Some businesses are waiting for hundreds of thousands of pounds of money to be reimbursed in terms of taxes.
00:45So that is not the answer.
00:47The answer surely is that the EU or the UK collects the taxes which we impose on American goods
00:53and leaves it up to the EU to collect their taxes if they wish to impose them.
00:58Well, I would say to the right hon. Gentleman in response to that,
01:03that what he has just proposed ignores the reality that faces Northern Ireland
01:08as a result of the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union
01:12and the fact there was a problem that had to be solved.
01:14As Secretary of State for Northern Ireland,
01:20is the Secretary of State not embarrassed that he and his government have no control
01:26over the tariffs in respect of goods imported into Northern Ireland?
01:31And isn't the obvious and inevitable answer to repatriate to the United Kingdom control over trade laws?
01:39And what happens if Northern Ireland is used as a conduit by the Republic of Ireland
01:44or the EU to export goods to the US?
01:49Who checks those goods and where?
01:51Well, I think I have said to the hon. Gentleman before
01:57I would not have started from here myself
02:00in relation to the cause that led to eventually the negotiation of the Windsor Framework,
02:07which was a huge improvement on the Northern Ireland protocol.
02:12But we don't control the decisions that the United States Administration has taken.
02:19What we have to do is to make sure that we stand with businesses,
02:22including in Northern Ireland, to provide them with support.
02:25And a mechanism that allows them to reclaim the tariff
02:28is the most practical step that we can take.
02:30It's already in place because of the Windsor Framework.
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