Ireland is entering into a new era with its recent economic model potentially consigned to history.
That could lead to a turbulent period politically as the generous expansionary Budgets of recent times are shelved.
Since US President Donald Trump unveiled his tariff plan this week, in a meandering speech at the White House, the fallout has dominated political discourse as countries struggle to predict what might happen.
It may be early days, but it is obvious that the Government will face a battle to maintain the line that Covid-style subsidies for businesses and workers are not on the cards.
So far, unions, business groups and the Labour party have flagged the potential for worker and business supports.
It is clear that a political legacy of Covid is a baked-in expectation of large-scale State help.
But the rub is that those enormous payments to workers and businesses were funded by the excesses of the economic model that is now in jeopardy.
On that point, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe has been signalling for weeks now that there is a volatile, uncertain period ahead.
And he has warned that promises on personal tax cuts, signed off in the Programme for Government, may fall in the face of an economic shock.
He has been making the case that a global trade war may not be the right time to narrow the tax base.
The aspiration to index link tax bands and credits was always contingent on the economy remaining strong.
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Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris have also ruled out the re-emergence of such Covid-style schemes.
But they have qualified their responses by saying that was the plan for now. Essentially, they are not totally ruling anything out.
Mr Harris has emphasised that the best result would be a mitigation of the impact of the tariffs.
The coalition is certainly keen to clamp down on any suggestion of a return to the type of handouts seen during Covid.
It is relatively straightforward to maintain this line now before tariffs have taken hold.
But a sharp recession could change that and the issue would then become much more politically contentious.
Already, there are many asks.
Labour has raised the possibility of a wage subsidy scheme, with deputy Ged Nash suggesting a short-term scheme similar to one in Germany.
This would keep workers in their jobs during the tumultuous time ahead.
And ICTU general secretary Owen Reidy made his intervention yesterday calling for the jettisoning of personal tax cuts and the VAT rate cut for the hospitality sector.
Instead, he said, that money could be used to support workers in badly hit sectors to keep them in their jobs.
Ibec CEO Danny McCoy has said a support scheme would be needed so that workers can remain connected to their employers.
And he has stressed that for some businesses, like in the drinks industry, the downturn could be immediate.
But six months out from the Budget, it is already obvious that the long shadow cast by a global trade war will upend the usual arithmetic.
Bulging corporate taxes have acted as a bulwark against hard choices, allowing the Government to raise spending, cut taxes and squirrel away money into rainy day funds.
No hard choices there. But dwindling resources in a prolonged period of uncertainty means that largesse cannot continue.
