Ireland puts thousands of jobs at risk from US pharma tariffs
Irish Finance Minister Pascal Donohoe said US drug tariffs would cost the economy thousands of jobs, and his focus was on maintaining a competitive edge to protect the country’s long-term success.
Ireland is serving a strong financial position with a large budget surplus as he speaks Monday at Bloomberg thanks to corporate tax revenues from US multinational companies such as Apple Inc. and Pfizer Inc. The future of Ireland’s finances At an event in Dublin, Donohoe said the government must look long and use the surplus.
That is especially the case as tariff uncertainty and global slowdown, meaning that a large portion of its tax revenue is at risk. The government may be tightening its wallet string this year. This was in stark contrast to last year’s budget, with one-off gifts scattered around for taxpayers.
Drug tariffs are an important concern when imposed by President Donald Trump. There could be work for around 75,000 pharmaceutical companies in Ireland, Donohoe warned.
“I will protect capital investments and enable every effort to prioritize,” Donohoe said.
“One of my deep lessons from the aftermath of the global financial crisis is that if capital investments decrease, costs will increase in future,” he said. “If the growth outlook changes, we will use our financial position to try and support our capital investments and do everything we can to prevent them from cutting back again.”
The US administration repeatedly chose the Irish model. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says Ireland is running the surplus at American costs. Trump raised the issue with Ireland Prime Minister Michael Martin at St. Patrick’s Day White House reception.