The US President Donald Trump has repeated his promise to move US pharmaceutical companies based in Ireland back to the US.

Speaking to Fox News last night, President Trump name-checked China and Ireland and noted that “everybody makes our drugs except us.”

Asked why US antibiotics are produced in China, he said: “It’s not only China.”

“You take a look at Ireland, they make our drugs – everybody makes our drugs except us,” he said.

“You’re seeing numbers of innovations that we’ve made in the past and things are being announced already.

“But we’re bringing that whole supply chain back. Nobody has to tell me to do it. I’ve been talking about that for years.”

And there are now 500+ Irish companies who employ 100,000 Americans. 🇮🇪 & 🇺🇸 = a unique economic relationship that benefits both our countries. https://t.co/Q9TOmlkRjd

— Daniel Mulhall (@DanMulhall) May 4, 2020

Responding to the comments the Irish Ambassador to the US, Daniel Mulhall noted that the presence of US pharmaceutical companies in Ireland is of “huge value” to them because it allows them to access EU and other markets tariff free.

“That is ultimately to the significant benefit of the US economy,” he said.

He said there are currently more than 750 Us companies with investments in Ireland and over 500 Irish companies that employ 100,000 Americans.

He said the “unique economic relationship between the US and Ireland benefits both our countries and noted that supply chains for medical and pharmaceutical products have remained fully functional throughout the pandemic.

He said the economic ties between the US and Ireland will be “more important than ever as we seek to recover from the COVID-19 crisis.”

US President Donald Trump speaks during a Virtual Town Hall at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, 03-05-2020. Image: Oliver Contreras/DPA/PA Images

In the Fox News ‘virtual town hall, interview at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, President Trump also said he “may be wrong” but he ‘firmly believes’ there will be a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the year.

He said countries around the world are working together and he doesn’t care who develops it first.

“The doctors would say, well, you shouldn’t say that but I’ll say what I think,” he said.

“I met with the heads of the big companies, these are great companies, and I think we’ll have a vaccine much sooner than later.

“I think that will be done.”

US President Donald Trump speaks during a Virtual Town Hall at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, 03-05-2020. Image: Oliver Contreras/DPA/PA Images

He said that if another country develops a vaccine that works before the US, he will ‘take his hat off to them.’

He continued to level blame for the pandemic at China, saying the country failed to stop the virus in early January.

“It came from China, it should have been stopped,” he said. “It could have been stopped on the spot.

“They chose not to do it, or something happened. Either there was incompetence or they didn’t do it for some reason and we’re going to have to find out what that reason was.”

It comes after his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said China had begun stockpiling medical supplies in early-January while concealing the severity of the virus.