US President Donald Trump has said the US will be introducing tariffs on pharmaceuticals, specifically citing Ireland among the countries where many pharmaceutical products are made.
Speaking in the Oval Office last night, Mr Trump said the tariffs on pharmaceuticals are aimed at bringing the pharmaceutical industry back to the US, claiming the US does not “make anything” in terms of drugs.
“It’s in other countries, largely made in China, a lot of it made in Ireland.
“Ireland was very smart. We love Ireland. But we’re going to have that,” Mr Trump added.
This is not the first time the US President has cited Ireland in reference to the pharmaceutical industry.
During a meeting with Taoiseach Micheál Martin in the Oval Office earlier this month, Mr Trump accused the Irish Government of “taking” US pharmaceutical companies through attractive taxation measures.
“All of a sudden Ireland has our pharmaceutical companies, this beautiful island of five million people has got the entire US pharmaceutical industry in its grasps.
“We don’t want to do anything to hurt Ireland, but we do want fairness and he understands that,” Mr Trump told the Taoiseach.
Last week, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called Ireland his favourite “tax scam”.
“We’re going to try and fix a whole bunch of these tax scams. Ireland is my favourite,” Mr Lutnick told the business and technology podcast All-In.
He also claimed that Ireland has all the US multinational pharmaceutical and technological intellectual property (IP) rights, which, he said, leaves the United States worse off.
Donald Trump made the remarks about Ireland last night while threatening larger tariffs on the European Union and Canada if they both work together “to do economic harm to the USA”.
Mr Trump also unveiled a 25% tariff on imported vehicles, expanding a global trade war and prompting criticism and threats of retaliation from affected US allies.
Article Source – ‘Ireland was very smart’ – Trump cites pharma tariffs – RTE
