Ireland Seeks U.S. Investment in Meeting with Trump Amid Trade Tensions
Ireland’s Prime Minister—known as the Taoiseach—Micheál Martin is set to announce over $6 billion in deals this Wednesday during his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington. However, the typical St. Patrick’s Day celebrations will likely be overshadowed by the Iran war and ongoing strains related to trade, tariffs, and Irish policies the White House has labeled a “tax scam” for American companies.
Few grasp the challenges more fully than Michael Lohan. As head of IDA Ireland, the country’s foreign direct investment agency, Lohan’s role is to draw companies to a nation that has long depended heavily on U.S. capital and businesses. “Ireland is closer to Boston today than Berlin,” Lohan notes, echoing a longstanding saying about its economic alignment with the U.S. in areas like taxes, talent, and business friendliness. (Geographically, Boston is nearly three times farther than Berlin.) “Last year was a record for FDI in Ireland—despite all the ongoing developments—and 65% of that investment came from U.S. multinationals.”
Trump does not see this capital flow as positive; he accused Ireland of “taking our pharmaceutical companies” during last year’s St. Patrick’s Day gathering. While his push for U.S. firms to focus more on domestic operations is having an impact—U.S. FDI to Ireland fell 20% in 2024 to $467 billion—the U.S. still stands as Ireland’s top investor. Lohan’s task is to attract more of that capital by “telling Ireland’s story” as a destination for talent, agility, and straightforward access to the European Union’s 27 member states.
Pharma-fueled trade surplus
Ireland has established itself as an attractive location for booking profits and paying taxes. Its 12.5% corporate income tax rate, along with previous tax incentives for companies such as Apple, have driven both investment and unwelcome scrutiny. For example, Apple and Microsoft hold their intellectual property rights in Irish subsidiaries that collect royalties from other regions. Pharmaceutical firms like Eli Lilly produce key components of top-selling drugs like Mounjaro and Zepbound in Ireland for the same tax reason, shipping those medications to U.S. customers and recording the revenue in Ireland.
Ireland’s budget oversight body reports that three U.S. companies contributed nearly half of the country’s corporate tax revenue last year. While not named in the report, they are widely known to be Apple, Lilly, and Microsoft. For instance, Lilly paid $6.6 billion in taxes to Ireland in 2025—roughly twice what it paid in the U.S., a country with 65 times Ireland’s population and most of Lilly’s customers. Lilly’s Irish workforce of 4,000 is also less than a fifth the size of its U.S. staff. Pharmaceutical sales boosted Ireland’s goods exports to the U.S. by 52% last year, reaching around $132 billion, and more than doubling the goods trade surplus to $114.2 billion. (Service trade between the two nations is nearly the reverse, with Ireland importing more than it exports.)
A trade surplus for one country is a trade deficit for another—and this is especially true for Donald Trump. The U.S. President has focused heavily on physical goods in trade flows and has criticized Big Pharma for soaring drug prices. Even with the U.S. currently at war, Ireland’s image as a corporate tax haven will probably not go unmentioned during the White House visit.
This could explain why the prime minister—similar to his IDA representative Lohan—has shifted focus from incoming investment to money moving in the opposite direction. Lohan highlights that Ireland made a record $389 billion in investments in the U.S. in 2024, ranking it as America’s fifth largest source of FDI. Per capita, the 5.4 million-person nation says it leads the pack. “The U.S. remains the world’s most innovative economy. It’s still where capital is easily accessible and supportive,” Lohan states. “None of that has really changed.”
What has changed, naturally, is Trump’s “America First” agenda—which is why Martin is set to present $6.1 billion in new Irish investments in the U.S. alongside the customary shamrock bowl. While fostering European alliances isn’t a White House priority either, Trump’s demands for NATO and Europe to increase efforts to protect the Iran-controlled Strait of Hormuz could dominate much of Martin’s talks with him. Ireland will take on the six-month presidency of the Council of the European Union in July, granting it a key role in E.U. decision-making.
Martin might prefer to discuss trade now, as the Iran war is a topic few leaders want to address publicly—especially during a White House press conference. IDA’s Lohan is also aware that Irish consumer opinion is split when it comes to Trump, tariffs, and the tech giants that have driven up housing costs and strained the domestic energy grid. Additionally, Europe’s approach to tech innovation differs significantly from what’s emerging from Washington, D.C.
“We aim to advance the innovation and technology agenda, but we must do so safely and ethically,” Lohan said. That applies to all prospective investors, including China.
“We want a fair, level playing field between China and its peers, with Ireland involved,” he added. “But I believe we can’t ignore what is a major economy with substantial innovation.”