OVER €10 BILLION WORTH of pharmaceutical products were exported from Ireland to the US in the month of February alone.

According to data published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) today, €10.45 billion in medicinal and pharmaceutical products were sent across the Atlantic during the 28-day period.

In January, a similarly high figure was recorded – An estimated €9.4 billion in Irish-produced pharma products was exported to the US in the first month of the year.

In total, pharma exports to US were valued at €19.9 billion for the first two months of 2025, almost half of the value of all Irish pharma exports to the US in 2024 (€44.4 billion).

The significant monthly sums far exceed last year, when the average monthly value of Irish-made pharmaceutical exports to the US was around €3.7 billion.

The high figures come in the wake of Trump once again namechecking Ireland while discussing the possibilities of tariffs on pharmaceutical imports to the US.

“We don’t make our own drugs anymore. The drug companies are in Ireland and they’re in lots of other places – China,” Trump told reporters yesterday.

Floating the idea of a pharma tariff, he implied that it would be similar to previous sector-specific tariffs on imported automobiles, steel and aluminium.

Asked for a timeline, Trump said it would happen in the “not too distant future”.

‘Bizarre and not good’

Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Harris said that it would be “bizarre” for the US to implement new tariffs on the EU during ongoing negotiations.

Speaking to reporters before a Cabinet meeting this morning, Harris called for “substantive engagement” to continue.

“What I would say to our counterparts in the US is that the European Union is engaging in good faith. I’m sure the United States is as well,” Harris said.

“And in any good faith negotiation, you should never take any action to escalate the situation.”

The EU is currently attempting to negotiate with the US during a 90-day suspension of sweeping 20% tariffs imposed on exports from the bloc.

A lower “baseline” 10% tariff remains in place but pharmaceuticals have, for now, been exempt.

However, the US administration has repeatedly signalled that it intends to target the pharmaceutical industry, which employs about 50,000 people in Ireland (30,000 in US companies).

It had been suggested the €44.4 billion worth of Irish pharma exports to the US could halve if Trump had implemented a 20% tariff on the goods and the EU had responded in kind.

“It would be bizarre and not good if, whilst in the middle of talks about trade, one of the parties to the talks was to do something that could cause economic damage or harm to the other,” Harris said.

“So I’d ask that calm measures, substantive engagement continues.”

Taoiseach Micheál Martin reiterated these views this morning, adding that “everything will be on table for US-EU negotiations”.

Asked how the EU should respond to American tariffs targeted at pharmaceuticals, he said: “We have to take it step by step.

“I mean, things are getting announced, things change on a weekly basis,” Martin said.

“The sensible thing to do is get this on to a negotiating pathway and to see what emerges from those negotiations.”