Imports of pharmaceutical products surged in March, most of which came from Ireland, historically one of the biggest exporters of medicines to the U.S.
President Donald Trump’s trade war appears to be disrupting the supply chain of pharmaceutical products, forcing some companies to bloat their reserves in the U.S. and pushing others to search for better business horizons elsewhere.
New data from the U.S. Department of Commerce released on Tuesday showed that imports of pharmaceuticals exceeded $50 billion in March alone, already equivalent to a fifth of all pharma imports last year. The U.S. took in nearly $108.2 billion worth of pharma imports during that period—nearly double that during the same period in 2024.
Ireland stood out in the Tuesday report. Imports of all goods from the European country spiked in March to $30.7 billion, more than doubling the $15.2 billion import figure in February. Of note, imports from Ireland topped China in March, with imports from the Asian giant slowing to roughly $29.4 billion that month.
The Commerce Department report does not disaggregate country-specific imports into their different end uses. However, Ireland has historically been among the biggest exporters of medicines to the U.S., suggesting that the import spike in March could be an effort by pharma companies to get ahead of Trump’s tariffs by beefing up their domestic product stockpiles.
Matthew Martin, senior U.S. economist at Oxford Economist, said that “while we had known consumer goods accounted for the bulk of March’s rise, we can now see pharmaceutical products were $20 billion higher—almost all of which were imported from Ireland,” as per a Tuesday report from Reuters.
Trump has for several weeks been threatening the pharma industry with tariffs, which he claims could encourage companies to move their manufacturing operations back to the U.S. Last month, the Commerce Department opened a national security probe on pharma imports, a process that produces a report to Trump, giving him the impetus to enact certain trade restrictions on the industry, including tariffs.
In response to these threats, several of the biggest pharma players have announced massive investments in the U.S., including Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis and, most recently, Bristol Myers Squibb.
The current economics of drug manufacturing are reverberating in the European market as well. The Danish manufacturer Xellia Pharmaceuticals, which has been operating in the red, is closing shop in Copenhagen, Denmark and relocating its operations to China, according to a Tuesday report from the Financial Times.
“We are discussing so much about reshoring,” Xellia CEO Michael Kocher told FT. “I think it’s just as important to make sure that what we have in Europe stays in Europe.” Xellia, which produces active pharmaceutical ingredients for antibiotics, said that it is being outcompeted by Chinese companies. The only way for it to stay afloat, as per the FT report, is to move its facility to China.
Xellia is owned by Novo Holdings, the controlling shareholder of Novo Nordisk, and does business with more than 500 companies in 80 countries. The Copenhagen closure will result in 500 jobs lost.
