Northern Ireland Scrutiny Committee concerned for US Tariffs impact on Northern Ireland and operation of Windsor Framework

Tuesday, 8 April 2025 12:54

The House of Lords Northern Ireland Scrutiny Committee has today (Tuesday 8 April) written to The Rt Hon Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, to express concern about the potential effect of the United States administration's global reciprocal tariffs on Northern Ireland and on the operation of the Windsor Framework. To aid the Parliamentary scrutiny of the issue, the committee has asked for the Government's initial...Request free trial

To aid the Parliamentary scrutiny of the issue, the committee has asked for the Government's initial assessment of the effects of the recent developments on Northern Ireland given, at the time of writing, the different tariff rates applied to the UK (10%) and to the European Union (20%).

The committee also asks that the Government provides its initial assessment of the impact on Northern Ireland of a range of possible scenarios including:

if the EU decides to respond with tariffs of its own on imports from the US and the UK does not;
if the UK responds with tariffs on US imports but the EU does not;
if both the EU and the UK respond with tariffs of US imports but a) at different levels or b) with tariffs on different goods.

The letter is available to read in full on the Committee's website: committees.parliament.uk/publications/47438/documents/246272/default/

The Northern Ireland Scrutiny Committee has requested a response for it to consider when the House returns after the Easter recess.

Notes to editors:

The Northern Ireland Scrutiny Committee was appointed on 30 January 2025.

The Committee is chaired by Lord Carlile, full membership of the Committee is: Democratic Unionist Party leader in the Lords, Lord Dodds, Ulster Unionist peer and former acting First Minister of Northern Ireland Lord Empey, former First Minister of Northern Ireland Baroness Foster, Labour peer Baroness Goudie, former Northern Ireland Secretary and now Labour peer Lord Hain, Conservative peers Lord Lexden and Lord McInnes of Kilwinning, crossbench peer and the first Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland Baroness O'Loan, former leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party and now Labour peer Baroness Ritchie, and Liberal Democrat peers Lord Thomas of Gresford and Lord Willis of Knaresborough.

The Northern Ireland Scrutiny Committee – which will be reviewed after two years, at the end of 2026 – will complement the work of the Windsor Framework Democratic Scrutiny Committee of the Northern Ireland Assembly and the House of Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Committee.