Trump tariffs are going to hit Ireland hard.

This week Europe.

Next week Ireland.

The Trump tariffs are coming thick and fast across the whole world but it's Europe that is under attack right now. It looks like the automobile industry is first to come under pressure with a 25% tariff with Irelands pharma industry next on the agenda with a presumed 25% tariff to come next week.

This would not be good for the country as these multi national companies provide huge employment in the country and huge tax for our government.

If he could even bring a quarter of the industry back to the states it would have a major knock on effect to our whole country.

However, the pharmaceutical sector in Ireland has been explicitly singled out by Trump as a future target for tariffs, with significant implications given its economic importance. On March 26, 2025, Trump announced a 25% tariff on all car imports into the U.S., effective April 2, 2025, and during that announcement, he specifically mentioned plans to impose tariffs on pharmaceuticals to "bring our pharmaceutical industry back." He noted that much of this production occurs in countries like China and Ireland, stating, “Ireland was very smart. We love Ireland. But we’re going to have that.” This wasn’t a tariff enactment this week but a clear signal of intent, with further details expected by April 2, when broader reciprocal tariffs against the EU are due to be outlined.
Ref: Grok

• Exports are worth over 100B last year with 45% of that going to the states.
• 42,000 people are directly employed by the sector.
• 24B in tax receipts.

Those are big big numbers for a small country like ours and impossible to replace in a short time period if we did lose a chunk of that industry.

You can't blame Trump for this.

This is what he was elected on. An America first agenda. We might not like this here or like the results of it but to be fair, that's not his problem.

The real questions is whether it will work or not.

Will these companies flock back to America and create production and jobs there or will they just raise prices and put more expense on the American public?

I'm no expert but realistically it is is just going to put more expense on everyday Americans trying to buy medicine.

Even if some of the companies wanted to jump back it takes years to set up the facilities, shut down production here, hire and train new staff, set up new distribution channels. All of which would cost a lot of money to do and by then Trump will be out of office and the tariffs might not even be there.

I would be much more worried about the tech companies as they are a lot more transferrable in a short period of time and they align with the American governments plans a lot more.

However, regardless of whether we lose full companies or not this move will hurt the country. Costing us jobs and revenue as the firms cut back to secure their profit margins and try to keep their growth on target.

We have a very skilled hardworking employee base in Ireland combined with access to Europe and other markets that make it very attractive for these American companies to set up here.

It won't last forever but when we do lose a few of the big names it could be like the last economic crash as our whole economy is held up by a few multinational corporations.

If they go all hell will break loose and we will see rapid change to every part of the country.

Posted Using INLEO