Viagra and Munjaro’s panic view could be behind a 200% export surge from Ireland to the US
Tranche, an American multinational company in Ireland, could be behind an aggressive surge in exports from the US as companies like Pfizer and Eli Lily shipped Viagra and Munjaro (Zepbound) to the US and scrambled them to ship to the US before the onslaught.
The economies for eurozone members expanded 3.2% in the first quarter of 2025, according to data released on Tuesday by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). Compared to the same quarter in 2024, the Irish economy grew by 13.3%.
Ireland’s own country champions were not driving the country’s impressive first quarter growth. Instead, it appears to come from an increasingly unstable multinational corporation.
“The results were driven primarily by the increase in the multinational sector in the first quarter of 2025, and a more modest increase in the domestic economy,” the CSO wrote.
In early April, the CSO revealed that Ireland’s exports to the US increased by 8.7 billion euros ($9.9 billion) or 210.5% in February. The overwhelming majority of these exports, about 90%, came from the chemical sector, including pharmaceuticals. Ireland exported total Value of $76 billion There was a product to the US in 2024, with a surplus of 50 billion euros ($57 billion).
It may not be surprising to see a similar monthly increase in March, when businesses digested the reality of Donald Trump’s tariff threat and competed to take damage control ahead of the so-called “liberation date” on April 2nd.
Ireland has built an impressive roster of American corporate giants over the century, behind its competitive tax policy. Meta, Google and Apple all have EU headquarters in the country and employ thousands of residents. As evidenced by strong pharmaceutical export data in February, many of the nation’s largest drug manufacturers are carrying out extensive manufacturing operations in Ireland.
Eli Lilly produces weight loss variants of the drug Mounjaro in Ireland, while Pfizer and Abbvie manufacture Viagra and Botox in the country respectively. Many of these drugs have been sent back to the US for consumption, and February is probably marking a panic-viewing moment for these products.
In total, US companies account for 10% of their employment in Ireland and 72% of their domestic foreign direct investment.
Goodbody, Ireland’s oldest operating stockbroker, compared it to its home country. Our “51st State” These links allow us to be from an investment perspective. In February, KPMG warned that the proposed tariffs could affect a third of Ireland’s exports.
Trump’s revenge against traditional US trading partners is on the ice after the administration enacted a 90-day suspension on retaliatory tariffs based on trade imbalances.
But businesses and policymakers are in Tenterhook as they wait for the president’s next move. Ireland’s drug sector may be next in line with the most exposed in the country.
Earlier in April, Trump promised a crowd of Republicans that “major” tariffs would come “soon” to import medicines.
That’s what European pharmaceutical companies do Turn on the continents of their homesthreatens to accelerate its move towards the US if the EU does not overhaul its regulations and intellectual property practices.
Meanwhile, the US drugmaker continues to feel the heat from the Trump administration, returning to his neck and back west.
This story was originally introduced Fortune.com