A "Groundhog Day without the comedy" - that is how the CEO of Irish Exporters Association described the renewed "chaos" of new US tariffs.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Simon McKeever said that Irish businesses are experiencing "massive level of uncertainty again", similarly to this time last year.
Since last Friday, governments and businesses around the world have been trying to understand if the terms they originally negotiated with the US are still valid.
Fresh US tariffs on imported goods have come into effect today, as President Donald Trump is rebuilding his trade agenda after the Supreme Court struck his emergency tariffs as illegal.
The new duty is set at 10% and can only last for 150 days unless extended by Congress, though earlier the US leader vowed to raise this level to 15%.
However, uncertainty persists over how the new levies would work and where it leaves the EU-US agreement.
Mr McKeever stressed that the levy has not been put up to 15% and "there's talk that might have annoyed the European Union and potentially puts the US in technical breach of the spirit of the EU-US deal."
"It's really all up in the air," Mr McKeever added with Irish companies trying to figure out their next steps.
It appears that pharmaceuticals as well as beef exports are exempt from new levies.
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Under the terms of the trade deal between the European Union and the US struck in August last year, aircraft, certain chemicals and semiconductors were excluded from the blanket 15% tariff.
The pharma industry also avoided the levies, though the implications of importing pharmaceuticals is currently under an investigation by the US Department of Commerce.
The IEA chief warned Irish companies that the new tariff is likely layered, meaning it is added on top of other existing tariffs on certain sectors, introduced prior to Mr Trump's second term.
Despite the uncertainy, Mr McKeever is certain that Irish exporters are not putting their business on hold.
However, unlike firms in the US, he added, Irish companies are unlikely to receive refunds for the cost of US tariffs now deemed illegal by the Supreme Court.
Trade attorneys in the US are expecting a flood of lawsuits to recover billions of dollars.
In one the highest profile examples, global transportation company FedEx has filed a lawsuit in the US Court of International Trade.
"Those tariff refunds are due to American importers. They're not necessarily due to any Irish companies." Mr McKeever said.
Trumop is expected to defend his turbulent second-term and his economic policies at the State of the Union address later today.
