AmCham 2025 President, Liz Cunningham, and 2025 Vice President, Mark Cockerill met with US-Ambassador to Ireland, Edward S. Walsh at the AmCham offices this week, alongside, AmCham board member Davina Conlon and AmCham’s Public Affairs and Advocacy team.
The discussion centred around the strength of the US-Ireland trade relationship with AmCham noting that Ireland is the 6th largest investor in the US. In 2013 Ireland invested over $320bn in the US economy, a 1600 percent increase in the span of a decade. Meanwhile, there are over 970 US companies in Ireland, employing 168,000 people directly. These figures have also been steadily rising over consecutive US administrations, with the number of people employed in US firms here rising by 20 percent between 2016 and 2020 and by a further 17 percent between 2020 and 2024.
The discussion also focused on key areas of mutual interest including Ireland as a partner for the US within the EU, the importance of Ireland as a regulatory hub within the EU for US business, and Ireland as a key trading partner for the US.
AmCham also highlighted the key opportunities for our members, particularly in the areas of AI and emerging tech, while noting that housing and cost competitiveness remain key challenges for members.
AmCham looks forward to continued engagement with Ambassador Walsh and the team at the US Embassy on maintaining and enhancing the two-way, mutually beneficial US-Ireland relationship.