Tánaiste Simon Harris has said any future tariff negotiations between the EU and the US should include the pharmaceutical sector and other key industries.
Speaking in Washington, following a meeting with US Secretary of Commerce Howard LutnicK, Mr Harris said the stated position of the Trump administration remains that they intend to take action specific to the pharma sector.
"If there is to be serious and substantive negotiations with the European Union, we should have, as part of that, a discussion around pharma and all valuable parts of industry, rather than having new tariffs slapped on another sector while that process is ongoing. I think there is an openness to considering that," the Tánaiste told RTÉ News.
He described the situation on tariffs and trade with the US as "fluid".
"I think that at the end of the day, as opposed to the start of the day, I think we have to welcome the relative certainty and time and space that has been created for meaningful engagement.
"This was always what needed to happen, mature, calm discussion," Mr Harris said.
'Very significant risks'
US President Donald Trump has said the United States will announce a "major" tariff on pharmaceutical imports "very shortly" to incentivise drug companies to move their operations to the US.
He made the comments yesterday - in advance of his 90-day pause on higher reciprocal tariffs announced today.
Chief Executive of the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association, Oliver O'Connor, said that there are "very significant risks" to future capital and R&D investments as a result of the tariffs.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Drivetime, Mr O’Connor said that the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries Associations (EFPIA) had conducted a survey of its members to examine the risks.
"We looked at maybe 85% of capital expenditure over the next four years and indeed 50% of R&D expenditure could be at risk because unaddressed, these measures do make the United States market somewhere that companies have to be," he said.
"It’s simply unprofitable and impossible to serve that market unless we're over there, so there are going to be policy actions needed both in Europe and indeed a de-escalation of tariffs to avoid these sorts of scenarios."
Pharmaceuticals were exempt from sweeping tariffs on US imports announced by Mr Trump last week, but he has said they will face separate tariffs.
This evening, US President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause of the higher 'reciprocal' tariffs, bringing them to the baseline 10% tariff instead. However, he increased tariffs on China to 125%.
The EU approved €21 billion in tariffs on US products in retaliation against Mr Trump's decision to impose 25% tariffs on European steel and aluminium exports last month.
Mr O'Conor said that the European Commission had said that the pharmaceutical industry is a "key strategic industry for Europe," and added "they do not intend to let it just wither away."
"What is clear is that Europe would not do itself any favors to sit back and not have a rapid and radical policy response of its own, while trying to reduce the tariffs and to deescalate this tariff or potential trade war."
Global markets had previously posted gains on hopes that Mr Trump might be willing to negotiate down the array of country and product-specific trade barriers he is erecting around the world's largest consumer market.
"These are tailored, highly tailored deals," Mr Trump said at a White House event, where he signed executive orders aimed at boosting coal production.
"We've had talks with many, many countries, over 70, they all want to come in. Our problem is, we can't see that many that fast."
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At an evening speech to Republican politicians, Mr Trump said he would soon announce "major" tariffs on pharmaceutical imports, arguing the duties would push drug companies to move manufacturing operations to the US.
"We have to do, we're going to put we're going to tariff our pharmaceuticals," he said.
"And once we do that, they're going to come rushing back into our country because we're the big market, the advantage we have over everybody is that we're the big market.
"So we're going to be announcing very shortly a major tariff on pharmaceuticals."
Read more: US tariffs take effect, deepening global trade war
Northern Ireland in a 'unique' position regarding tariffs
It comes after European pharma companies warned the European Commission president at a meeting yesterday that US tariffs would expedite the industry's shift away from Europe and toward the United States.
'Little incentive to invest in EU'
Pharma trade lobby EFPIA, whose members include European pharma giants Bayer, Novartis and Novo Nordisk, said it had called on Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to push for "rapid and radical action" to mitigate the "risk of exodus" to the US.
EFPIA said the EU needs to change its regulatory framework for the industry to make it more conducive to innovation and strengthen Europe's intellectual property provisions.
The demands were not new. EFPIA has repeatedly warned that Europe's pharma sector will lose out to increased competition from the US, China and emerging markets if the EU does not amend a proposed revamp of laws governing the sector.
"Now with the uncertainty created by the threat of tariffs, there is little incentive to invest in the EU and significant drivers to relocate to the US," the EFPIA statement read.
A statement from the commission said Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Fresenius, Sanofi, Bayer, Gedeon Richter and Ipsen Chiesi attended the call.
Further, the statement said the industry raised "strong concerns" about the wider impact of US tariffs on global supply chains and medicine availabilities in Europe, as well as regulatory barriers within the EU.
The industry also pushed for simpler "procedures for clinical trials and digitalisation of the European health system, as well as for protection of intellectual property. They urged ambition and speed with upcoming initiatives ... notably the EU Biotech Act," the statement added.
Biotech lobby Europabio, the European Confederation of Pharmaceutical Entrepreneurs and generics trade group Medicines for Europe also attended the meeting.
Europe and the United States have interconnected supply chains for medicines.
The US depends on medicines partly produced in Europe that bring in hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue.
EU medical and pharmaceutical product exports to the US totalled about €90bn ($97.05bn) in 2023, according to the latest Eurostat data.
European pharma giants have recently been expanding production facilities in the US.
The US is the biggest pharma market by sales for big pharma companies, both US and European headquartered ones.
Sales in North America accounted for nearly 50% of world pharmaceutical sales in 2021, compared with nearly 25% for Europe, according to EFPIA.
