'Ireland was very smart' - Donald Trump to introduce pharmaceutical tariffs

Donald Trump has said the US will introduce tariffs on pharmaceuticals, specifically Ireland and China, where vast amounts of pharmaceutical products are produced.

The US President was speaking from the Oval Office on Wednesday night when he said,

"We're gonna be doing tariffs on pharmaceutical in order to bring our pharmaceutical industry back.

"We don't make anything here, in terms of drugs, medical drugs, different types of drugs that you need...medicines.

"It's in other countries. Largely made in China. A lot of it made in Ireland.

"Ireland was very smart...we love Ireland. But we're gonna have that."

Trump has been threatening tariffs across the globe since being in office and this isn't the first time he has spoken about Ireland "taking" US pharmaceutical companies due to the low taxation measures.

Speaking with Taoiseach Micheál Martin last month during the annual St Patrick's Day visit, Trump said he didn't blame Ireland but "this beautiful Island of five million people has got the entire US pharmaceutical industry in it's grasps."

Reactions have been mixed to the introduction of such tariffs with many worried there could be widespread job losses across the country, although the reality of moving these industries back to the US could prove difficult and take a number of years.

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