Eire’s items exports to the US surged by 34% to €72.6bn (£60.4bn) in 2024 whereas its imports from the US fell barely to €22.5bn (£18.7bn).
That meant Eire had a goods-trade surplus with the US of simply over €50bn (£41.6bn), in keeping with the info from Eire’s Central Statistics Workplace (CSO).
These commerce patterns have gained political significance since Donald Trump regained the US presidency.
He regards international locations which have huge commerce surpluses as making the most of the US.
Final week he launched his “truthful and reciprocal” plan for commerce which might pave the best way to giant tariffs, or import taxes, on items from many international locations.
Trump talked about Canada, Taiwan and India in addition to describing the EU as being “completely brutal on commerce”.
To this point Trump has not given any indication that he would search to single Eire out amongst EU international locations.
Commerce coverage within the EU is what is called an “unique competence” that means that solely the EU can negotiate commerce offers and impose tariffs, reasonably than particular person states.
The most important purpose for Eire’s commerce surplus with the US is the presence of pharmaceutical producers who export most of their Irish output to the US.
The CSO mentioned that in 2024 total exports of medical and pharmaceutical merchandise rose by 22.4bn or 29% to simply underneath €100bn (£83.1bn).
These merchandise accounted for 45% of all Irish items exports.
One doubtless issue for the rise in exports in 2024 is that Eli Lily manufactures its weight reduction drug, Zepbound, at a facility in County Cork.
US pharma corporations are in Eire partially due to the nation’s low company tax charge.
The researcher Brad Setser, who works for the US Council on Overseas Relations, has tracked the actions of the pharmaceutical corporations.
In 2023, in proof to the US Congress finance committee, he mentioned: “There isn’t a believable clarification for the present scale of US imports of prescription drugs from Belgium, Eire, Switzerland, and Singapore that is not tied to tax avoidance.”
