Irish goods exports showed exceptionally strong growth in 2025, according to Carol Lynch, partner in BDO’s customs and international trade services department. “Irish exports have grown significantly over the last year, mostly driven by exports to the US and, within this, exports from our pharma industry,” she says.
Exports to the US in the first nine months of this year were up 90 per cent on the same time last year.
“We can see medical and pharma exports in the first three quarters of the year were up from €71 billion to over €118 billion. In September alone exports of medical and pharmaceutical products were 65 per cent of our total exports.”
It’s a strong, if skewed, performance, largely driven by overseas multinationals. However, Ireland’s indigenous sector is optimistic about exports too.
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Some 97 per cent of respondents to an Enterprise Ireland survey in October said they planned to expand into new international markets in the next 12 months, with 66 per cent expecting export sales to have increased in 2025 and a further 93 per cent anticipating growth in 2026.
That’s despite a year that saw trade tectonics shift massively as a result of US tariffs.
“The biggest impact for exporters has been uncertainty and a difficulty in planning ahead in terms of the P&L, cash flow, pricing and competitiveness,” says Lynch, pointing out that each sector has had different challenges to contend with.
“Initially the worry was what the tariff would be ultimately. While an additional 10 per cent was introduced for most industries in April, there was uncertainty over the summer as to what a final deal would look like. In addition, certain exporters had to contend with additional sectoral tariffs in, for example, steel and aluminium. The final deal in July, agreeing a 15 per cent tariff, was also not fully implemented by the US until September, leading to further uncertainty,” says Lynch.
“The big issue for our clients at this point was how to plan ahead when the final rate wasn’t clear, and in addition, for certain industries such as aviation, whether they would ultimately be exempted. Even where tariffs are now fixed at 15 per cent for most exporters – outside of pharma, IT and aviation – there continues to be almost daily and weekly changes. This makes it difficult for companies to price ahead.”
The food industry been particularly hard hit, however, with the 15 per cent tariff significantly eroding margins. “The recent announcement of a new tariff exemption on certain listed food products is to be welcomed but again this makes forecasting difficult,” says Lynch.
For those exporting products with steel, aluminium or copper content there is continuing confusion around how to calculate and substantiate the steel content in a derivative product.
The US Customs and Border Protection agency is heavily auditing declared values.
“Exporters need to have strong supporting files, including information from their suppliers, to support declaring steel content lower than the overall value. In this context we are working with companies to first determine if they can be excluded from the 50 per cent tariff by in-depth and technical reclassification for customs purposes, then we are looking at the bill of materials to determine steel values,” she says.
In manufacturing, a bill of materials is an exhaustive list of all raw materials and component parts.
“In other cases, companies are looking at establishing US subsidiaries to enable tax compliant, reduced intercompany valuations for sales. However, this again is a complex and expensive project and will require input from both customs and transfer pricing experts,” says Lynch.
It’s just another of the fresh challenges that have sprung up over the past year. “It is now commonly accepted that the global trade environment is fracturing. Integrated supply and value chains, once supported by a rules-based free-trade system, are giving way to regionalised markets,” she explains.
“Businesses now face real-time changes to tariffs, trade rules and market access priorities. In this environment, making strategic decisions is challenging. Companies must factor in the geopolitical landscape, tariff changes and heightened supply chain and security risks across the globe. Outside of the largest multinationals, most businesses either lack in-house global teams to navigate this complexity or are already stretched resource-wise. All of this makes it a more complex world and it’s important to be able to access specialist help.”
