President Donald Trump said Saturday that he would “love” to see a unified Ireland, setting off strong reactions in the United Kingdom and beyond.
“Well, I don’t want to cause any problems, but I will tell you I’d love to see it unified,” the president told reporters at a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin in Dublin, where residents took to the streets to protest Trump’s visit.
“Now, the U.K. will have something to say about it, obviously,” Trump acknowledged. “But I think it would be a great thing. I mean, how can it be bad?” He added: “I think it would be a fantastic thing.”
The president’s comments, made en route to the Irish Open tournament at Trump International Golf Links in Doonbeg, underscore his propensity for intervening in other countries’ political affairs. Still, his suggestion for Irish unification — a deeply sensitive topic — pale in comparison to his military campaigns abroad and the overt threats he has made to other sovereign nations.
Trump’s remarks were met with immediate pushback in the U.K. across the political spectrum.
“Northern Ireland’s constitutional future will be decided by the people of Northern Ireland, not by commentary in London, Dublin or Washington,” Gavin Robinson, leader for Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party and a member of the U.K. Parliament, said. “As unionists we are not interested in the destruction of our country by joining with the Irish Republic.”
President Trump knows better than most that elections matter. Northern Ireland’s constitutional future will be decided by the people of Northern Ireland, not by commentary in London, Dublin or Washington.
Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom because that is the settled… https://t.co/BozSTf93j9
— Gavin Robinson (@GRobinsonDUP) September 12, 2026
Kemi Badenoch, who leads the Conservative Party in Parliament, likened Trump’s comments about Northern Ireland to his threats of annexing Canada and Greenland.
“President Trump is shooting from the hip as usual, just like he did with Greenland and Canada becoming the 51st state,” she said on X. “This sort of loose talk about the future of democratic countries is deeply unhelpful and creates unnecessary tension.”
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Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.