Advertisement

Trump's 'liberation day' looms over the EU as pharmaceutical tariffs expected

Trump's administration feels that more pharmaceutical jobs should be in America rather than in Ireland.
Aoife Daly
Aoife Daly

11.29 30 Mar 2025


Share this article


Trump's 'liberation day' looms...

Trump's 'liberation day' looms over the EU as pharmaceutical tariffs expected

Aoife Daly
Aoife Daly

11.29 30 Mar 2025


Share this article


This coming Wednesday is 'liberation day' - at least, that's what Donald Trump is calling it.

It marks the day when his administration will roll out a whole new wave of tariffs targetting things like the auto industry in Canada and potentially also the pharmaceutical and med-tech industry in Ireland.

Trump's administration feels that more of of the industry's revenue and jobs should be located in America rather than in Ireland.

Advertisement

Capsule medicine pill production line, Industrial pharmaceutical concept. 2SR9BJH Capsule medicine pill production line, Industrial pharmaceutical concept.

Adjunct Professor in Economics at Trinity College Dublin John Fitzgerald told The Anton Savage Show that we have no idea about the potential impact of this announcement.

"He talked about Ireland and pharmaceuticals, he's talked about a whole load of things - until we see what he announces next week, we don't know," he said.

"It's likely to be pan-European and I think that is Ireland's strength is we're part of the EU.

"Also in terms of pharmaceutical imports into the United States, Switzerland actually sells more into the US than Ireland, Germany would be close enough as is Belgium, so it's not just Ireland.

"It is for us a very really important part of our relationship with the US, but the US imports about $150 billion worth of pharmaceuticals, we contribute about $25 billion of that."

Prof Fitzgerald said the US also exports around $40 billion of pharmaceuticals into Europe, so this is a "complicated business".

You can listen back to the full interview here:

Main image: U.S President Donald Trump. Credit: Daniel Torok/White House Photo/Alamy Live News. 13th Mar, 2025.


Share this article


Read more about

Donald Trump Pharmaceutical Industry Tariffs

Most Popular