Irish exports reached record levels in 2024, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has estimated, driven by surging pharmaceutical and medical products sales and exports to the United States.
The Republic exported €224 billion of goods last year, an increase of €28 billion compared with 2023, with exports to the US alone up 34 per cent to a value of €72.6 billion. Against a backdrop of heightened trade tensions between the Trump administration in the US and Europe, the latest CSO estimates illustrate the extent of the Republic’s growing exposure to the world’s largest economy.
Imports of goods from the US also declined by 2 per cent to €22.5 billion last year, widening the Republic’s trade surplus with the US, a source of anger for the new administration in Washington.
Meanwhile, goods exports to the other countries in the EU, which remains the Republic’s largest export market overall, increased by just 9 per cent to €88.5 billion.
Exports to Britain slumped by 10 per cent, or €1.7 billion, in the year, to an estimated value of €15.7 billion.
Monday’s CSO figures also underline the Republic’s reliance on the multinational sector.
The medical and pharmaceutical industries, which are dominated by international companies domiciled in the Republic, accounted for almost half of the total value of exports last year, the CSO said.
Overall the value of exports from the sector was up 29 per cent, or €22.4 billion, to €99.9 billion in the year.
Carol Lynch, head of customs and international trade services at accountancy firm BDO, said the figures are both encouraging and a source of concern.
“Amid the ongoing trade wars and retaliatory tariffs being proposed by the US, Irish companies should ensure they have prioritised carrying out a risk assessment on their US sales, explore measures to reduce the impact of tariffs, and assess their sales plans across the EU, UK, and rest of world markets,” she said.
Last week, US president Donald Trump said that as part of a future programme of trade measures, he would target pharmaceutical imports for special tariffs, potentially threatening the sector responsible for the bulk of Irish exports to the US.
At an Oval Office press conference last Thursday, he said: “What it’s going to do is bring pharmaceuticals back to our country; much more important than the money.
“It’s a lot of money, but it’s going to bring pharmaceuticals back to our country, it’s going to bring chips back to our country, it’s going to bring automobiles. China and other places — we want to get the pharmaceutical and drug business back into the United States, where it should be.”
Commenting on the risk of tariffs being imposed by the Trump administration, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said: “I think any economy that is very open and that is very trade intensive is particularly susceptible to change if global trade and if policies and tariffs change. Ireland is undoubteldy one of a number of countries that will be affected by that.”
He said there was a need to find a “pathway of a negotiated alternative to this… where we can look at how we can deal with the perceived issues that are leading to these tariff challenges”, adding that if tariffs are applied by the US then Europe would have to respond back in a “firm and proportionate way”.
Meanwhile, the Republic imported €133.6 billion of goods in 2024, down 5 per cent on 2023, the CSO said.
Imports from Britain, the second largest individual exporter of goods to the Republic behind the US, declined by 21 per cent to €16.6 billion while imports from Northern Ireland increased by 3 per cent to €5.4 billion
