Trump targeting Irish pharma
Donald Trump has criticised US pharmaceutical companies that moved to Ireland for tax purposes, and the Republican presidential nominee is proposing to cut corporation tax rates in a bid to lure them back.
International trade and investment have become hot topics in the US presidential election. Trump has promised that if he wins in November, he will cut corporate tax rates in America from 21pc to 15pc, which would erode the tax benefit of companies moving from the US to Ireland.
In an interview with Fox News on August 22, Trump warned about the potential effect that higher corporation taxes would have on businesses if rival US presidential nominee Kamala Harris wins the election.
The Democratic candidate has said she wants to increase the US corporate tax rate to 28pc if she wins the White House in November. Trump claimed this would prompt companies to leave.
“What they’re going to do is pick up and move to another country, like the pharmaceutical industry moved to Ireland and they moved to other places. Many of these industries are just very... they’re international companies,” said Trump.
“If she raises taxes, like she wants to do on companies, there go those jobs.
“I’m more interested in the jobs than the companies. But there go those jobs.”
Trump added that companies would be promised “taxes at half the numbers that she’s talking about, and more than that.”
In a separate interview on the same day with Fox, Trump again spoke about the effect of raising taxes on US companies and how it could lead to firms moving elsewhere.
“They will move their companies out of our country. They did it with Ireland, the pharmaceutical companies left. A lot of... they moved to Ireland. A lot of them moved to Ireland of all places, and that’s very nice. I hope they’re happy.”
Trump has long had his eye on US pharmaceutical companies moving manufacturing to Ireland. In 2020, when he was president, Trump vowed to bring pharmaceutical production “back” to the US.