15-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
Irish exports reached record level in March, due to threat of Trump tariffs
Exports to America increased the most, up by €20.3bn last month alone, to reach a total of €25.4bn. This is an increase of almost 395pc.
The stockpiling is most obvious in the pharma sector, which is operating under the threat of a tariff of up to 25pc. According to trade figures released by the Central Statistics Office, the exports of medical and pharma products rose by €16.7bn, or 243pc, to €23.6bn in March.
The exports would include the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) in Mounjaro, the weight-loss drug produced by Eli Lilly, one of the world's leading pharma companies which employs over 3,500 people in Ireland across three sites.
Medical and pharma represents almost two-thirds of total Irish exports. In the first quarter of 2025, amid much stockpiling in advance of Mr Trump's threatened tariff regime, Irish exports in this sector increased by 154pc to €55.9bn worth of goods. The figure for the first quarter of last year was €22bn.
Of the goods exported from Ireland to America, 94pc were defined as chemicals and related products, which would include medical and pharmaceutical products. Among the other prominent exports in this category would be Sildenafil and Atorvastatin, the APIs that Pfizer produces and which are marketed as Viagra and Lipitor.
Kate English, Chief Economist at Deloitte Ireland, said the March figures confirm the trend of exports to the US rising considerably in response to the threat of tariffs. 'There is a clear indication of stockpiling of medical and pharmaceutical products, with exports to the US increasing by 833pc in March 2025 compared to March last year,' she said.
"With such a notable rise, this is likely to positively impact Q1 GDP data. However, will this level of export trade, driven by stockpiling, hold in the second quarter? If it doesn't, we are likely to see more noise in Q2 GDP data.'
'This will make interpreting some economic data in the first half of the year quite difficult, meaning we need to continue to monitor other frequent data points, such as consumer sentiment and savings ratios."
Further evidence of the sheer volume of Irish pharma exports to America in the first quarter emerged in figures from the Census Bureau in America. Released this week they showed that the US imported a record $53bn of medical and pharma products in March, up 160pc from the same month last year, and almost double the quantity of February.
Ireland accounted for $28bn of the imports in March, according to the US figures, up from $5.5bn in the same month in 2024.
Robert Purdue, Head of Dealing (Ireland) at global financial services firm Ebury, said: "Irish exports went through the roof in March as businesses rushed to sell their goods, particularly chemicals and pharmaceuticals, to the US.
"The sheer scale of this growth - almost doubling compared to March 2024 - demonstrates the impressive resilience and capability of Ireland's exporting sector. However, more worryingly, it suggests that Ireland is unlikely to escape the firing line of US President Trump's tariff war.
"With the President targeting countries with trading surpluses with the US, and with his recent criticisms of the EU, Irish businesses will be hoping that the UK trade deal announced last week will pave the way for a fair and balanced trading arrangement between Ireland and the US.'
The US administration is currently doing a Section 232 national security investigation into both drugs and semiconductors, which it is widely feared will lead to the announcement of sectoral-specific tariffs in addition to the general 10pc levy imposed by Mr Trump in April.
