Irish machinery manufacturers are on the long list of EU manufacturers to feel the brunt of US President Trumps 20% tariffs on EU exports to the US. The US is a big destination for European machinery and has been a market in which some Irish manufacturers have flourished in recent years.

With tariffs on Trump’s cards for some time now, some manufacturers have spent recent months moving as much machinery in and out of the US as possible, in an effort to avoid these additional costs.

CNH Industrial, the parent company of Case IH and New Holland was the first to publicly announce that it had halted shipments of farm machinery from its American factories and imports from Europe until it further assessed the impact on pricing.

Meanwhile, JCB announced plans to double the size of a new factory it has under construction in Texas, as the company said that the tariffs will impact its business in the short-term. Although it will take some time for the dust to settle, we spoke with several Irish manufacturers to assess the immediate impact these US tariffs will have on their business.

Denis Doyle Ltd

Athy-based Denis Doyle Ltd manufactures high-end, self-propelled pile drivers for solar farm contractors across the world.

“America has been our largest market, accounting for up to 80% of exports. In recent months, huge uncertainty has wiped out this market; it has crucified us. From a solar point of view, the solar panels and all the racking comes from China. There are huge solar projects in the pipeline in the US, many of which you are talking thousands of acres.

“The uncertainty and now the tariffs have put a halt to everything over the past six months. Our dealer in the US has quite a few machines sitting in stock, many of which were units that were ordered and then cancelled because of the uncertainty. There are some projects trickling away in the US, but the short-term future isn’t too bright.”

Major Machinery

“We have worked closely with our distributors in the US to get as much product into the country as possible since January. The US accounts for 15-20% of our production, so it’s a major market for us. We saw these potential tariffs coming and we sent three to four containers of machines to the US every week since January. We just hope that the EU will treat this issue with a level head, rather than slapping tariffs on US products.

“A big chunk of our customers in the US are cotton farmers, and they are struggling at the minute. Other markets such as food and drink may be able to absorb the tariffs, but those kinds of margins just aren’t in our markets,” said Eibhlin Murphy.

Malone Farm Machinery

“The North American market is one that has been up and coming for us. We’ve spent the past four years developing a dedicated product range to suit the market and conditions, machines such as 10ft and 12.5ft trailed plain (non-conditioner) mowers. These machines come down the assembly line separate to European spec machines and are built to US conformity.

“The tariffs couldn’t have been implemented at a worse time for us. Over the past week we’ve just shipped two containers-worth of orders to the US via Savannah port and there’s another almost ready to go. Most of these machines were sold to end users. Right now, we don’t know what exactly the process will be when containers arrive in 25 days, or how long it’ll take to get clearance,” said Mike Malone.