What will Biden’s plan to bring investment back to US mean for Ireland?
Smart Money: Massive exports to the US from the Irish pharma sector in the spotlight
Joe Biden's Irish cousin Laurita Blewitt talks about his Irish connections and plans for returning to Ireland as US president
From the point of view of the Irish economy, a win for Joe Biden in the US presidential election always looked better than a Donald Trump victory. Trump has pursued aggressive trade policies which have dangers for Ireland and sought to undermine bodies such as the World Trade Organisation. But central to Biden’s policy is a strategy of bringing US investment back to America and thus securing vital supply chains in pharma, electronics and other areas. And he has detailed polices to seek to do this, even though being faced with a Republican-dominated Congress would make progress on some of these difficult. This goes beyond tax, however, to a whole range of policies. Let’s look at what is involved and what it could mean for investment and jobs in Ireland.
1. The background
Bringing investment “back home” was a recurring theme of the Trump presidency. He referred on a number of occasions to Ireland’s position as a pharmaceutical manufacturer and the US’s resulting deficit in trade with the State.