The Irish ambassador to the US has defended the presence of American pharmaceutical companies in the Republic as "benefiting" both nations.
Daniel Mulhall made the comments after the US president vowed to bring pharmaceutical manufacturing back to America.
Donald Trump referred specifically to the Republic and China in his comments, commenting: "Everybody makes our drugs except us."
He said he wants to bring pharmaceutical manufacturing home to the US.
"We're bringing that whole supply chain back," he told Fox News at a virtual town hall event in Washington DC.
Ambassador Mulhall responded on Twitter, saying there are more than 750 US companies with investments in Ireland from where they export to the EU and beyond, adding supply chains have remained functioning during the pandemic.
"These companies' profits benefit the US economy. Supply chains between #Ireland & the #USA for pharma & medical products have remained fully functional during #COVID-19," he tweeted.
The ambassador added in another tweet: "The presence of US pharma companies in #Ireland is of huge value to those companies as they can access EU & other markets tariff free from Ireland.
"That is ultimately to the significant benefit of the US economy."
President Trump has previously spoken about US companies moving operations from foreign countries back to the US.
