Any retaliation from the European Union to tariffs introduced by the United States should avoid dragging the pharmaceutical sector into the trade dispute, the industry told the Government in recent days.
The pharmaceutical sector also appealed to the Government to use its influence in Brussels to push a “competitiveness” agenda within the European Union, that would include watering down proposed new regulations of pharma companies.
In a recent letter, BioPharmaChem Ireland, which represents the sector, said companies were concerned about being caught up in the US-EU tariff dispute.
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The April 11th letter to Taoiseach Micheál Martin, seen by The Irish Times, said the Republic needed to keep pushing for negotiation over retaliation.
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US president Donald Trump is expected to introduce specific tariffs on pharmaceutical imports, in an effort to pressure pharma firms – many of which have large bases in the State – to shift production to the United States.
The Irish industry group, whose members include big employers here, such as Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and MSD, stressed the need for “a negotiated solution,” to avoid tariffs on pharmaceutical products.
Sinéad Keogh, head of the BioPharmaChem Ireland lobby group, told Mr Martin, “any retaliatory action on a European level must not impact patients’ access to medicines. We call for a measured European response that carefully avoids any negative impact on patients, industry, and the sector’s complex supply chains.”
Concern remains high within Government about the economic impact of tariffs on pharma, given exports from the sector account for much of the Republic’s trade with the US.
The European Commission, the union’s executive arm that steers trade policy, has delayed an initial package of EU countertariffs it planned to put on imports of US soybeans, oranges and steel, while it tries to negotiate with the US administration.
Initial talks between EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič and his US counterparts, aimed at getting Mr Trump to suspend sweeping tariffs he has already announced on transatlantic trade, have made little progress to date.
Senior commission officials are drawing up a second package of tariffs and other countermeasures to exert pressure on the United States, in the event talks founder.
In response to looming tariffs, the pharmaceutical industry has stepped up its efforts to push back against proposed new EU regulations of the sector.
The reforms would cut the minimum number of years companies can sell new drugs they produce before cheaper generic competitors enter the market. The industry has privately criticised the proposals as a well-meaning but flawed attempt to speed up poorer member states’ access to new medicines.
The Government is likely to come under pressure to row in behind the pharmaceutical industry’s position, when EU states vote on the proposed reforms in the coming weeks.
Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said she still had an “open mind” on what position the State would take in the vote.
Chief executives from 30 of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in Europe recently lobbied European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to reverse the proposed changes.
The executives warned that €100 billion of future investment firms had planned for EU states, was now at risk of being redirected to the US or other countries.
In the recent letter to Mr Martin, the Irish pharma industry body said the focus should be on what could be done to incentivise companies to invest in Europe. “Now more than ever, it is crucial for Ireland to act on issues it can directly influence to address competitiveness gaps at both national and European levels,” it said.
