A “doomsday” scenario for the Irish life sciences sector following the election of Donald Trump as US president is “not likely to happen” but it is too soon to be sure, according to industry specialists at Deloitte.
Irish goods exports hit a record €22.2 billion in September, driven by increased exports of pharmaceuticals. The United States, which accounted for 31 per cent of total exports in the month, is now the single largest destination for Irish exports, with pharmaceuticals the largest industry sector.
Exports of medical and pharmaceutical products increased by 77 per cent to €10.7 billion, accounting for 48 per cent of total exports. Exports of organic chemicals, also connected to the State’s big pharma industry, increased by €1 billion to €3.7 billion.
The latest trade data from the Central Statistics Office was published amid warnings that the incoming Trump administration, which is threatening to impose tariffs on all US imports, could trigger a big disruption in transatlantic trade.
Deloitte partner Suzanne McDonald, who is the group’s health and social care lead in Ireland, said it is “probably too early to say” exactly how Mr Trump’s election will affect the sector.
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“We have a very long history in this space,” she told The Irish Times. “Ireland has a very strong reputation in producing and manufacturing in pharmaceuticals and medtech. That relationship goes back over 20 years and multiple administrations, so I think we might be getting ahead of ourselves in getting too much into what the impact might be.
“No matter what administration was appointed, they would be facing the same challenges in terms of the global life sciences and medtech sector.”
She said Ireland “needs to be mindful of proper taxation, trade and pricing issues because those are obviously very important for all of the life sciences organisations in terms of the relationship with the US ... Maintaining that relationship is going to be very important for us. But I think it is too early to be predicting some sort of a doomsday response ... We need more time to see what emerges in terms of policy.”
More generally, she said, the world has “changed considerably” since the Covid-19 pandemic. “Workforce shortages in healthcare is impacting across all geographies,” she said.
“Ireland competes with lots of countries for our healthcare workforce, so that’s an issue there. The cost of care is also rising each year, so finding ways that you can innovate and use technologies to address those issues is really important.”
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