The value of Irish goods exports to the United States soared by 52% to almost €112bn (£97bn) in 2025, official figures suggest.
The export performance was heavily influenced by President Trump’s tariffs policy.
Tariffs are effectively taxes applied to goods imported from other countries.
US companies rushed to import and stockpile goods from Ireland ahead of actual or threatened tariffs.
The data from Ireland’s Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows a spike in Irish exports to the US in the first three months of 2025, ahead of Trump’s initial “liberation day” tariffs in April.
The US has long been Ireland’s most important export market, a trend which intensified in 2025.
Almost 43% of all Irish good exports went to the US in 2025, up from about 33% in 2024.
Ireland’s biggest export sector is pharmaceuticals: the country is a major manufacturing hub for US companies like Pfizer and Eli Lilly.
More than half (€138.6bn) of all Irish goods exported in 2025 were medical and pharmaceutical products.
That performance may also reflect the success of Eli Lilly’s weight loss drug, Mounjaro.
The active pharmaceutical ingredient for that drug is manufactured at a factory in County Cork.
Getty Images White capsules in a silver shovel in a laboratory being held by a person in a white coat with blue gloves.Getty Images
More than half of all Irish goods exported in 2025 were medical and pharmaceutical products
Trump has repeatedly expressed his unhappiness at the scale of US pharma manufacturing in Ireland.
However, threatened tariffs on pharmaceuticals have mostly not been imposed so far, limiting the impact of tariffs on the Irish exporting sector.
BBC