President Trump during his Lincoln Memorial virtual town hall interview given to Fox News. Fox News screenshot.
By Irish Echo Staff
Not for the first time, President Trump has cast a cold eye on U.S. pharmaceutical companies based in Ireland.
In a “virtual town hall” interview given to Fox News and conducted at the Lincoln Memorial in the nation’s capital, the president, in response to a question, first focused on Chinese manufacturing of pharmaceuticals that are then marketed in the U.S.
But he did not stop with China.
“It’s not only China, you take a look at Ireland. They make our drugs. Everybody makes our drugs except us,” he said.
“We’re bringing that whole supply chain back. Nobody has to tell me to do it, I’ve been talking about this for years.”
Responding to the presidnt’s comments, Irish Ambassador to the U.S., Dan Mulhall, tweeted that the supply chains between Ireland and the U.S. for pharmceutical and medical products have remained fully intact throughout the Covid-19 crisis.
"The presence of US pharma companies in Ireland is of huge value to those companies as they can access EU and other markets tariff free from Ireland. That is ultimately to the significant benefit of the US economy," Ambassador Mulhall stated in his tweet.
Back in March, and as referred to in Irish news outlets including the Irish Times and RTE, President Tump stated: "Ireland does a lot of work for us in that world, in the pharma world. A very tremendous producer. We are looking to bring a lot more back home."
In response, and as reported by RTE an IDA spokesman said: "Ireland has built up a very robust life sciences and biopharmaceutical industry over many years, the quality and depth of which is recognized across the world.
"Ireland's combination of track record, skills availability, manufacturing quality, consistent pro-enterprise policies, high regulatory standards and access to the European Union, is a mix that appeals to many companies.
"Bio-Pharmaceuticals is a globalized industry with multinational companies seeking markets, skills, innovation, production expertise where they exist and they are also mitigating concentration risk through diverse market presence.
"Companies based in Ireland are at the cutting edge of developing and manufacturing complex oftentimes life-saving drugs for patients which are exported throughout the world. Ireland is a key part of sophisticated global supply chains within the biopharmaceutical industry."
