The Republic of Ireland devised a simple yet dramatic way to deal with U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff hikes.
The country dramatically hiked its exports to the U.S. ahead of the “Liberation Day.”
Trump refers to Apr. 2 as Liberation Day, when he imposed “reciprocal tariffs” on 180 countries, later paused for 90 days on on Apr. 9.
Tariff war was a central plank of Trump’s election campaign for the 2024 presidential election. Once he won the election, nearly every country in the world expected him to hike tariffs.
Related: Trump Tariff Live Updates: Trump open to make a trade deal with Xi Jinping
To beat Trump’s new tariffs, Irish manufacturers surged their exports to the U.S. more than 200% in February, the BBC reported on Apr. 15.
Ireland exported goods worth $14.72 billion to the U.S. in February 2025. In contrast, the figure stood at a mere $4.75.
The report mentioned that Ireland exported goods worth $82.64 billion to the U.S. in 2024. Exports to the U.S. make up one-third of the country’s total exports.
Pharmaceutical products with a 45% share are Ireland’s biggest export goods. In 2024, Ireland exported medical and pharmaceutical products worth around $113 billion.
In fact, leading American pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and Eli Lilly manufacture their products in Ireland.
When Trump met Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin during a bilateral meeting on March 12, he said that if he were in the office when the American pharma companies first set up in Ireland, he would have imposed 200% tariffs on their imports to the U.S.
The ongoing tariff tensions have sent the global stock and crypto markets into jitters. The crypto market has nearly recovered to its pre-Apr. 2 levels, and its market cap stood at $2.8 trillion on Apr. 15.
As per Kraken’s price feed, Bitcoin was trading at $85,839.25 at press time.
