Irish food and drink exporters are preparing for significant disruption after Donald Trump announced plans to place additional tariffs of 20 per cent on most goods produced in the European Union.
Butter and whiskey accounted for more than 90 per cent of the total €1.9 billion worth of food and drink products that the Republic sent to the US last year. Dairy exports to the US were valued at almost €830 million in 2024, around €500 million of which related to Kerrygold butter, the second most popular butter brand in the US.
Ornua, the Irish agri-food co-operative that makes Kerrygold, on Thursday morning said it regretted the US president’s decision to impose an additional 20 per cent tariff on Irish and European dairy exports but is optimistic that a negotiated solution can be reached.
The 20 per cent announced on Wednesday is in addition to the 10 per cent tariff already levied against EU dairy imports into the US. It means Ornua and other dairy producers are facing total levies of 30 per cent as a consequence of Mr Trump’s latest announcement.
In a statement, a spokesman for Ornua said: “Ornua regrets the US decision to impose additional tariffs on Kerrygold and remains hopeful that a negotiated solution can be reached between the US and the EU. Our products are subject to US import duties and additional tariffs will have a negative impact on our business, on our US consumers, and on the dairy farmers who supply Kerrygold.”
The US remains a “very important market for Ornua”, the spokesman said, and the group is committed to further investment in the country.
A representative body for the Irish dairy industry said it is still analysing the details of Mr Trump’s tariff announcement, which is expected to impact the Republic’s dairy sector disproportionately due to the popularity of brands such as Kerrygold in the US.
Conor Mulvihill, director of the Ibec-affiliated lobby group Dairy Industry Ireland (DII), said earlier this week that any European retaliation to the US president’s tariffs regime would be “counterproductive at the extreme” for the EU’s dairy sector.
Meanwhile, the European Dairy Association, of which DII is a member, on Thursday said it strongly condemns the US decision to place tariffs on EU dairy products.
Alexander Anton, secretary general of the EDA, said the move was “unjustified”, given that EU dairy products account for less than 2 per cent of total US domestic consumption.
Irish whiskey exports to the US, which were valued at €900 million last year, are also in the firing line.
Midleton, Co Cork-based Irish Distillers, which produces Jameson and Powers and is the largest exporter of Irish whiskey to the US, declined to comment. Its owner, French drinks giant Pernod Ricard, in February slashed its sales forecasts for 2025, citing, among other things, “challenges posed by the global tariff environment”.
Powerscourt Distillery, the Wicklow-based producer behind the Fercullen brand, sold about 30 per cent of its product to the US last year and expected to do the same this year, Ryan Stapleton, the distillery’s head of sales, told The Irish Times.
“These tariffs will hurt us on the shelf,” he said, coming just two years after Fercullen debuted in the US. “I think as a general point we’re going to need to start focusing on the Far East, Canada and other markets where we won’t face these problems. I certainly hope that between now and the full implementation of the tariffs, something can be done. But I’m not hopeful.”
The Irish Whiskey Association, an Ibec group that represents the sector in the Republic, said in a statement the tariffs would “seriously undermine” Irish drinks exports to the US. “We encourage both the EU and US to work together in good faith in seeking an agreement which will avoid tariffs and the devastating impact they may have,” it said.
