Phil Hogan: 'American companies don't locate in Ireland just for the fact that they love Ireland'

Ireland is the third-largest exporter of pharmaceuticals in the world, while the top 10 drugs companies have operations here.

European Commissioner for Trade Phil Hogan said pharmaceutical companies tend to "cluster" in Ireland for tariff-free access to European markets. File picture

The European Commissioner for Trade insists there is balanced trade between the US and Ireland following comments from Donald Trump about the pharmaceutical industry here.

Earlier this week, President Trump singled out the manufacturing of drugs in Ireland, and said he wanted to bring that whole supply chain back to America.