Irish exports to US surged 400% in March ahead of tariffs

Ireland's goods exports to the United States increased by almost 400% in March as manufacturers raced to get products into the country ahead of President Donald Trump's tariffs.

Sales to the US were worth just over €25bn, compared to €5bn during March 2024.

It made March a record month for overall goods exports from Ireland with sales worth €37bn, almost double the €19bn achieved in March 2024.

The surge was lead by pharmaceuticals with sales of €23.6bn, up by 243% on the same month last year.

In April, Trump imposed a minimum tariff of 10% on almost all countries, while proposing extra "reciprocal" duties for some trading partners, including 20% on the EU.

He later suspended the reciprocal measures, giving partners 90 days to negotiate.

The US is Ireland's biggest export market and pharmaceuticals are the most important sector.

The country is a major manufacturing hub for US companies like Pfizer and Eli Lilly.

Jane Burmanje, statistician at Ireland's Central Statistics Office said: "More than two thirds (68.2%) of export goods went to the USA (€25.4 billion).

"This means, for every €1 worth of goods Ireland exported in March 2025, almost 70 cent went to the US."

Last week, the Irish government revised down its economic growth forecasts due to the uncertainty unleashed by Trump's tariff policies.

It expects Ireland's domestic economy to expand by 2.5% this year, down from an earlier forecast of 2.9%.

In the event of a tariff war between the EU and US, it said growth this year would be forecast at 2%, falling to 1.75% next year.

That does not include the potential impact of additional tariffs on pharma products which were not part of the analysis.

Ireland's Foreign Minister, Simon Harris, travelled to Brussels on Thursday to meet the European Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič.

Šefčovič is leading the EU's tariff negotiations with the US.

Speaking ahead of the meeting Harris said: "Ireland's consistent position remains that we need to get into a substantive, calm, measured and comprehensive dialogue with the United States.

"At the same time, we understand the need for the EU to undertake further internal preparations in case negotiations are unsuccessful. This is a sensible and measured approach."