hoe the day after our inclusion on the list.
noting the shift from the more traditional
While we run a large goods trade surplus
with the US, “we simultaneously run a large
services trade deficit”.
“The Irish economy is deeply embedded
in global supply chains – we are a very open
economy. This is especially evident in our
trade with the US, where our two countries
have integrated and complex supply chains,”
he added.
Paul Burfield, Enterprise Ireland’s senior
vice-president for the west and southern
US, is sanguine. He suggests that inclusion
will focus the minds on a market that’s in a
“Goldilocks state”.
“It is a market where Irish companies have
done well over the past three decades and
there is a lot more runway to go,” he says.
“Part of our diversification strategy away
from the UK is very much focused on the
eurozone and US. We do see potential for
some of our early-stage companies to start
thinking about US-first strategy,” he adds,
THE IRISH TIMES | Wednesday, July 3, 2019
Irish companies is about €150 billion, mak- Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, US President
UK-first attitude of Irish exporters. ing us the ninth biggest contributor to US
While foreign direct investment has be- FDI. In the US, there are more than 950
come increasingly important, we need to businesses employing just over 100,000
pull our weight where companies setting up people, Burfield says. That’s certainly not
a presence in the US is concerned. And for insignificant given our population size.
Burfield, it’s an unquestionably attractive So, are the scales starting to tip in our fa-
market, given the market size. vour? “It’s tipping for sure and we don’t ex-
That’s not to suggest our contribution pect it to stop,” Burfield says.
hasn’t been significant. FDI into the US by An increasing Irish presence in the US
may lead to a softening of trade rhetoric,
TOP COMPANIES BY REVENUE
but our focus also needs to be on ensuring
our continuing competitiveness. For O’Ro-
Company Turnover (€b) Employees urke, that means quickly solving issues like
Apple Ireland 119 6,000 the housing shortage. And even though US
companies are aware of it, he notes there’s
Google 32.1 3,338
no sense yet that we’re becoming uncom-
Medtronic 26.6 86,000 petitive. “After the crash, we really got com-
Eaton Corp 19.2 97,000 petitive again. I don’t think we’ve gone the
Facebook 18.7 4,500 wrong side of that yet,” he says.
Microsoft 18.5 2,000 Buckley suggests that nobody is taking
Allergan 14 16,900 their foot off the peddle where competi-
tiveness is concerned, something she says
Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump,
and Vice President Mike Pence during the
annual shamrock bowl presentation at
the White House in Washington, DC
PHOTOGRAPH: TOM BRENNER/GETTY IMAGES
we always have to be cognisant of. Rather
positively, she adds, we have managed to
improve in that regard, even with domes-
tic changes like near full employment and
wage inflation. According to the IMD busi-
ness school in Lausanne, the Republic ranks
in seventh place out of 63 countries, up from
12th in 2018, for competitiveness.
The ingredients appear to be right for con-
tinuing investment by US businesses in Ire-
land and the same from our exporters in
the US. And while there are challenges on
the horizon, as evidenced by US president
Donald Trump’s tax changes, Ireland has
managed to maintain its competitive edge
in the face of an ever-changing global trade
environment.
IRELAND-US BUSINESS 2019 | 05