Ireland's exports to the United States surged by 34% in 2024, reaching €72.6bn (£60.4bn), while imports from the US fell slightly to €22.5bn (£18.7bn). This resulted in a trade surplus of just over €50bn (£41.6bn), according to Ireland's Central Statistics Office (CSO).
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The increase in exports has drawn political attention since Donald Trump returned to the US presidency. He has criticised trade imbalances and launched his "fair and reciprocal" trade plan, which could lead to tariffs on goods from various countries, including those in the European Union. However, he has not indicated that Ireland will be specifically targeted.
Ireland's trade surplus with the US is largely driven by pharmaceutical exports, which accounted for 45% of all Irish goods exports in 2024. The CSO reported that medical and pharmaceutical product exports rose by €22.4bn, or 29%, reaching nearly €100bn (£83.1bn). One contributing factor is Eli Lilly's production of the weight loss drug Zepbound at its facility in County Cork.
Many US pharmaceutical firms operate in Ireland due to the country's low corporation tax rate. Researcher Brad Setser of the US Council on Foreign Relations has argued that the scale of US pharmaceutical imports from Ireland and other countries is linked to tax strategies rather than purely economic demand. In 2023, he told the US Congress finance committee that "there is no plausible explanation" for the scale of imports that does not involve tax avoidance.
The EU manages trade policy for its member states, meaning any tariffs imposed by the US would be addressed at a bloc-wide level rather than by Ireland alone.
Source: www.bbc.com