Healy-Rae thinks the strongest counter for Martin will be to point, politely, to the past praise of Republican think tanks for Ireland’s commitment to low corporate taxes and a simple tax code. With reluctance, the Irish last year raised their own longtime rate of 12.5 percent on corporate profits to 15 percent as part of its response to an OECD-driven process that has since been rejected by Trump.
Then there’s the gulf over Gaza. Ireland is one of Europe's most strident critics of Israel's conduct in Palestine. | Yahya Hassouna/AFP via Getty Images
The biggest sore point for Trump could be how virtually all of America’s top drugmakers have made Ireland a preferred base, with their main cluster in Martin’s own native Cork in southwest Ireland. While other U.S. firms principally locate in Ireland to secure barrier-free access to the EU single market, Big Pharma ships four-fifths of its Irish-made products and ingredients back to the U.S. market, accounting for the lion’s share of Ireland’s €72 billion in 2024 goods exports to America — more than triple the value of U.S. goods going to Ireland.
The Irish plan to counter, in part, by pointing out that trade is reaching unprecedented heights in both directions — and includes far bigger values in services, not goods.
Enterprise Ireland, the Irish state agency that promotes and supports home-grown companies, pushed that message Monday as Martin departed for Texas, listing a string of Irish businesses with big U.S. operations and investments, including Irish airline Ryanair, one of Boeing’s biggest customers. In the coming days their American hosts can expect to hear every Irish minister say, over and over, that Ireland is the world’s sixth-largest investor in U.S. businesses.
Meanwhile, the total trade balance, including both goods and services, heavily favors U.S. exports of services to Ireland. This produces a 2024 trade deficit for Ireland approaching €93 billion, according to Ireland’s statistics agency.
Irish officials privately concede that Trump is unlikely to be swayed by objective figures and facts, given his penchant for mangling them beyond recognition — but is much more likely to be won over with a headline-grabbing deal sweetened with flattery.