Irish pharma exports to U.S. surge to 10.5 billion euros amid tariff threat

DUBLIN (Reuters) -Irish exports of pharmaceutical and medical products to the U.S. surged by more than 450% year-on-year in February, data showed on Tuesday, a second monthly hike that suggested U.S. drugmakers may be stockpiling medicines in advance of potential tariffs.

The U.S. administration kicked off a probe into imports of pharmaceuticals on Monday as part of a bid to impose tariffs, which President Donald Trump said he expects to add to a raft of duties on other goods and trading partners in the "not-too-distant future".

Trump has repeatedly singled out the manufacturing of drugs in Europe and particularly Ireland as a problem he intends to tackle through tariffs. More than a dozen of the world's biggest drugmakers have plants in Ireland, where many make medicines or active ingredients for the U.S. market.

Ireland saw a spike in exports of medicines to the United States in January, when they shot up by 130% to 9.4 billion euros ($10.7 billion). They grew to 10.5 billion euros in February from 1.9 billion in the same month last year, Ireland's Central Statistics Office said.

Some drugmakers have taken the unusual step of sending more medicines by air to the U.S. amid the tariff threats, two executives and two logistics firms told Reuters last month.

Ireland's Central Bank attributed a surge in pharma exports to the U.S. from Ireland since last July to the production of highly demanded weight-loss drugs but has said the more recent increases may partly be driven by stockpiling.

A 34% rise in all goods exports to the U.S. from Ireland last year pushed the U.S. goods trade deficit with the EU member state to a record 50 billion euros.

($1 = 0.8817 euros)

(Reporting by Padraic Halpin and Conor Humphries; Editing by David Holmes)