John Burns: It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but Donald Trump’s trade war with EU may target US pharma firms based here

For some time now, Donald Trump has had a problem with the number of American pharmaceutical companies based here. Five years ago he complained that Ireland “makes our drugs – everybody makes our drugs except us”. From Abbott to AbbVie, Medtronic to Merck, we certainly export a disproportionately large amount of pharmaceutical products across the Atlantic.

In 2023, the US was the biggest single purchaser of Irish imports, buying €54bn worth. Of that, about €36bn was pharmaceuticals or medical devices..