Ireland has large trade deficit with US, new CSO figures show

Ireland had a trade deficit with the United States of almost €93 billion last year, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Ireland’s trade surplus with the US in goods has become a source of tension between Dublin and Washington with US president Donald Trump threatening to impose 25 per cent tariffs on all EU and Irish imports to correct what he describes as a trade imbalance.

The CSO’s latest national accounts show that while the State does have a big trade surplus with the US in terms of goods (meaning it sells more goods to the US than the US sells back to Ireland), this is offset by a large trade in services going the other way.

The figures showed Ireland had a trade surplus in goods with the US amounting to €70 billion in 2024. However, when it came to services, Ireland had a trade deficit amounting to €163 billion, meaning it imported €163 billion worth of services from the US more than it exported.

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When combined, Ireland had an overall trade deficit with the US of €93 billion in 2024.

“The services trade is directly related to the goods,” the CSO’s assistant director general with responsibility for economic statistics Christopher Sibley said. “For example, the large pharma exports behind the goods balance with the US have corresponding royalty payments, a service import.

“So the net impact of the overall trade with the US is much smaller than the goods numbers alone tell us,” he said.

“And since much of Irelands export trade is with Europe, while the imports related to that is with the US, this gives Ireland an overall trade deficit with the US,” Mr Sibley said.

Separately, the CSO’s figures showed the Irish economy expanded in GDP (gross domestic product) terms by 1.2 per cent in 2024, up from a previous estimate of 0.3 per cent.

The agency said it had revised GDP upwards for the final quarter of last year on the back of stronger net exports and this had improved the growth picture for 2024 as a whole.

Modified domestic demand, considered a better measure of the underlying health of the Irish economy, grew by 2.7 per cent, representing a fourth successive year of positive MDD growth.

The latter was driven by growth in personal spending and wages, which rose 2.3 per cent and 2.9 per cent respectively.

“The growth in the domestic economy is consistent with the strength of our labour market – with a record 2.8 million people in employment last year,” Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe, said.

“Alongside the exchequer returns published yesterday, today’s figures illustrate the relatively healthy aggregate position of the domestic economy.”

However, Mr Donohoe said the external outlook has become more uncertain in recent months against a backdrop of increasing global fragmentation.

“As a major beneficiary of global economic integration, the Irish economy is exposed to the reversals currently under way.

“From a Government perspective, the policy response will focus on controlling the ‘controllables’. In other words, we are focusing on what we can directly influence. This means continuing to improve resilience, competitiveness and productivity.

“We will do so by continuing to address major infrastructural bottlenecks in key strategic areas, as well as investing in skills and training,” Mr Donohoe said.