On March 16, the Chamber was delighted to host Ireland’s Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheál Martin as part of his virtual visit to Washington for St. Patrick’s Day. Ahead of his meeting with President Biden, Martin joined Chamber EVP and Head of International Affairs Myron Brilliant for a conversation on Ireland’s role at the heart of the commercial relationship between the United States and Europe.

Ireland is among the United States’ most important economic partners and serves as the European headquarters for dozens of American companies. Indeed, it’s worth reiterating the strength and breadth of U.S.-Irish economic ties: there’s over $580 billion in two-way investment, which has directly created over 480,000 American and Irish jobs. American companies have even created one out of every five private sector jobs in all of Ireland. The relationship between our two countries has proven especially important and resilient during the pandemic: Ireland is among the largest suppliers of medicines and medical devices on Earth, and was the world’s 5th largest exporter of COVID-related supplies, despite only having a population of 4.9 million people.

The discussion focused on our desire to collaborate across a number of shared priorities, including: responding to the pandemic and fostering a sustained economic recovery, addressing climate change, keeping the transatlantic digital economy connected, maintaining close relations with the United Kingdom post-Brexit, and working together to find common approaches to challenges from China and other non-market economies.