Irish butter, whiskey and beef exports threatened by Trump tariffs

Irish food and drink exports to the US worth almost €1.9bn to the Irish economy could be hit with tariffs in the coming months.

Last week, US president Donald Trump announced he plans to slap a 25% tariff on EU exports.

He gave no indication of when the tariff rate would apply or what products would be targeted.

Bord Bia data shows that Ireland exported €450m worth of Irish whiskey to the US market last year, with the overall drinks sector last year sending €899m worth of alcoholic beverages stateside.

Whiskey exports surged 92.3% in value terms and 99.6% in volume terms last year compared with 2023 levels.

Dairy

In terms of value, €829m worth of Irish dairy was exported to the US last year.

Over half of this value was comprised of 57,287t Irish butter, which was worth €494m. The volume of butter exported was down 7.9% on 2023, but up in terms of value by almost 16%.

Ornua’s Kerrygold butter brand is the second-most popular brand of butter in the market.

Ireland exports a range of dairy powders to the US market and the value and volume of powders for the protein market soared in 2024.

Casein exports jumped in value by a whopping 712%, with €70m worth of the powder exported there, while €27m worth of whey was sent there.

Infant formula worth €112m was also shipped across the pond last year.

Beef

The US market has been slow to take off for Irish beef. However, €8.8m worth of beef was exported there last year.

The majority of this was comprised of €8.1m worth of frozen boneless beef, followed by €530,000 worth of chilled boneless beef and €187,000 worth of frozen bone-in beef, Bord Bia data shows.

In terms of tonnages, some 2,728t of Irish beef was exported. Interestingly, Irish beef offal exports surpassed steak cuts to the US, with 2,798t of offal valued at €11m sent there last year.

Irish pigmeat exports to the US were valued at €23m in 2024, the majority of which comprised of pork and bacon cuts.

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