As Donald Trump announced 100pc tariffs on patented pharma products entering the US, Ireland’s Tánaiste pointed to the 15pc EU cap in the August trade agreement.
European countries including Ireland are closely looking at the implications of a sudden 100pc pharmaceutical tariff announcement from Donald Trump on his social media network Truth Social last night.
“Starting October 1st, 2025, we will be imposing a 100pc tariff on any branded or patented pharmaceutical product, unless a company is building their pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in America,” he wrote. “There will, therefore, be no tariff on these pharmaceutical products if construction has started.”
In a statement this morning (26 September), Tánaiste Simon Harris said the Irish Government and EU colleagues would be “studying the impact of this announcement, which includes a number of exemptions”.
Harris was quick to emphasise that the EU trade agreement signed in August capped tariffs for pharma products exported from the EU at 15pc.
“I want to stress, however, that the EU and US Joint Statement issued on 21 August last made absolutely clear that any new tariffs announced by the US on pharmaceuticals under its Section 232 investigation would be capped at 15pc for pharma products being exported by the EU,” he said. “This remains the case and underlines again the value of the agreement reached last month.”
The overnight announcement may have caught the Irish Government off guard as the Tánaiste has just returned from a trip to New York and Washington where he met with US secretary of commerce, Howard Lutnick and had “valuable meetings”.
“I remain as convinced as ever of the mutually beneficial nature of the dynamic, two-way economic partnership between Ireland and the US as well as between the EU and the US,” he said this morning. But there will be understandable concern in Government that any such imposition of tariffs would damage a key manufacturing sector in Ireland, pharmaceuticals.
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