THE UNITED STATES does not import around 80% of its butter from Ireland, despite that figure being recently shared on social media. 

The 80% figure featured in a post on X by Peter Ryan of Ryan Research, in which he quoted the US news network CNN. The post has been viewed almost 150,000 times. 

The Journal asked Ryan which CNN report he was referring to and he replied that it was an article published last year that said: 

“About 80% of the butter imported into the US is now Irish.” 

The CNN article links to a chart released by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), but the chart refers to one month in 2018, when the butter imported by the US was about 77% Irish. 

Over the long term, and up until this year, the proportion of butter imported by the US that comes from Ireland it much lower than that, although it still makes up a large part. 

"About 80% of the butter imported into the US is now Irish." - CNN

— Peter Ryan (@_PeterRyan) December 5, 2025

Irish dairy products entering the US fall into two quota categories: Any Country and EU.

The quotas limit the amount of specific products that can be imported into the US with the aim of protecting domestic producers.

The different categories also determine what tariff is paid on those goods. What falls into the EU bracket is charged a lower tariff than goods in the Any Country bracket. 

A spokesperson for the US department of Agriculture told The Journal: 

“Ireland provides a significant share of US butter imports.”

The spokesperson said that in 2024, Ireland provided about 2.7 million kilograms of butter under the Any Country quota, and has supplied more than 2.6 million kg so far in 2025. 

“Under the EU quota, Ireland supplied 14,224 kg in 2024 and roughly the same amount to date in 2025.”

According to a USDA report on dairy imports covering January to August 2025, the US imported 5,935,858 kilograms of butter across both quota categories. 

Irish butter made up 2,606,800 kg of that total, which equates to roughly 44%.   

As the USDA spokesperson noted, 2024’s figures were roughly the same. 

As for 2018, the year with which the chart linked to by CNN was concerned, the proportion of US butter imports that came from Ireland that year ended up being around 52%. 

Irish butter, and Kerrygold in particular, is popular with people in the US because of its high quality, high fat content and the fact that it’s widely available in American supermarkets. It’s also versatile and can be used for eating, cooking and baking.

The New York Times’ product review website Wirecutter had Kerrygold as one of its top picks for the best butter as recently as November 2025.

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