Irish exports to the US “more than halved” in November as the total value of exports decreased by 17 per cent in the month, according to new data.
The value of export goods in November fell by €3.5 billion, a 17.1 per cent decline to €17.1 billion in the same period of 2024, when it stood at €20.7 billion, according to data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
However, the total exports over the first eleven months of the year stood at €245.4 billion – an increase of €37.4 billion, or 18 per cent, against the same period in 2024.
A big proportion of Irish companies front-loaded their exports in order to avoid the impact from the introduction of US import tariffs in April on ‘Liberation Day’ which has altered the spread of exports through the year in comparison to previous years.
Jane Burmanje, a trade statistician in the CSO’s goods division, said exports to the US had “more than halved over this period”
US-bound exports fell by €4.1 billion to €3.9 billion in November – a 51.0 per cent decline on the same month last year, when Ireland saw €8.0 billion in US exports.
The State’s largest export sector, pharmaceuticals also registered a decline in November, falling by more than a third from €11 billion last year to €7.3 billion in the month. The sector represented 42.3 per cent of all Irish exports during November.
Irish imports remained constant year on year, standing at €2.31 billion in November 2025 against €2.32 billion during the same month the previous year. Still, imports were down for the first 11 months of the year from €27.83 billion to €24.93 billion.
“Overall, our export and import of goods figures in November reveal a decline compared to the same month last year, led by a notable fall in US pharma exports,” said Kate English, the chief economist at Deloitte Ireland.
She said November’s data follows a trend of “monthly volatility”, urging care in assessing export data on a monthly basis in isolation and noted that pharmaceutical products are continuing to have a significant impact on the State’s export performance.
“Moving away from monthly trends, in the 11 months to November, exports remain 18% higher than the same period in 2024. Front loading of exports to the US in the first half of 2025 was the large driver.”
As a forecast, Ms English expects an “element of volatility to remain in our export data, particular in high value sectors such as pharmaceuticals”.
“The extent of this volatility will be decided by policy changes both in Ireland and in the US, and any change in firm behaviour following these changes,” she said.