With a GDP of 57% in 2009, different service industries, manufacturing, construction, and the utility industry (23.4% of GDP), as well as fishing, make up the backbone of Ireland’s business (6.3 percent of GDP). Discussed below are some of Ireland’s trade relationships
U.S.-IRELAND RELATIONS
Relations between the United States and Ireland have historically been founded on shared ancestral ties and beliefs. The US and Irish governments benefit from a healthy slate of interactions in areas such as commerce, culture, education, and scientific research, in addition to the constant conversation on political and economic matters. As a result of Ireland’s participation in the European Union (EU), talks of EU trade and economic policies, as well as other parts of broader EU policy, have become crucial in the US-Ireland relationship.
Many Irish citizens go abroad for a job or study, primarily in the United States, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom (UK), and other European countries. Summer Labor Travel is a category of the US Department of State’s Exchange Visitor Program that allows Irish teenagers to participate in a cultural and educational enrichment program that incorporates temporary and seasonal work as well as travel in the US.
Economic and trade relationships are a critical component of overall US-Irish relations. The United States is Ireland’s second-largest goods exporter, after the United Kingdom. Pharmaceuticals, electrical components and equipment, computers and peripherals, aircraft, and optical/medical instruments are among the goods exported by the United States to Ireland. The United States is Ireland’s main export destination, accounting for over a quarter of all Irish goods exports. Among the Irish exports to the US are pharmaceuticals, organic chemicals, optical/medical devices, and drinks
Anglo-Irish Trade Agreement
Ireland and the United Kingdom signed the Anglo-Irish Trade Agreement on April 25, 1938. Its goal was to end the Anglo-Irish Trade War, which had been going on since 1933.
The treaty eliminated the 20 percent tariffs imposed on imported goods by the United Kingdom and Ireland, respectively.
Ireland was also required to pay the United Kingdom a final one-time sum of £10 million for “land annuities” derived from financial loans originally granted to Irish tenant farmers by the British government to enable them to purchase lands under the Land Acts before 1922, a provision included in the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty (to compensate Anglo-Irish land-owners for compulsory acquisition of their estates in Ireland, primarily through the Land Acts enacted by British governments between 1870 and 1909).
Because the remaining land annuities liability under a 1925 deal was £11.75 million (in annual repayments of £250,000 over sixty years), the Trade Agreement was portrayed as beneficial for the newly rebuilt Irish state.
EFTA
Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland make up the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) here, which is a regional trade organization and free trade zone. The organization runs alongside the European Union (EU), and all four member nations are members of the European Single Market and the Schengen Area. However, they are not a member of the European Union’s Customs Union.
While the EFTA is not a customs union, it does have a coordinated trade strategy and member states have full rights to enter into bilateral third-country trade agreements. As a result, the EU and some other countries have signed free trade agreements with their member states. Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway are participants in the Agreement on a European Economic Area (EEA) to participate in the EU’s single market, with compliance overseen by the EFTA Surveillance Authority and the EFTA Court. Instead, Switzerland has some bilateral agreements with the EU.
