{"id":615066,"date":"2026-09-13T19:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T19:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/615066\/"},"modified":"2026-09-13T19:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T19:00:14","slug":"donald-trump-doubles-down-on-support-for-united-ireland-northern-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/615066\/","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump doubles down on support for united Ireland | Northern Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump<\/a> has reiterated his support for Irish unification and brushed off Andy Burnham\u2019s opposition to a referendum.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody says that. Then things happen,\u201d the US president said on Sunday of the British prime minister\u2019s response.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems to me that one of the naturals of all time is to put them together,\u201d Trump said of the unification of Northern Ireland<\/a> and the Republic of Ireland<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Trump caused consternation on both sides of the Irish Sea on Saturday when, at the start of a two-day visit to Ireland, he said he would \u201clove\u201d to see a united Ireland<\/a> and \u201cit may as well happen now\u201d.<\/p>\n

Trump ended his visit on Sunday at his Doonbeg golf resort in County Clare in exuberant fashion by presenting the Irish Open trophy to Shane Lowry and announcing that he would cut tariffs on Irish whiskey.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone\u2019s been bugging me,\u201d he told the crowd. \u201cThey say \u2018will you do me a favour, it\u2019s so unfair, could you possibly take the tariffs off Irish whiskey?\u2019 And I said \u2018on behalf of the United States of America I\u2019m going to take the tariffs off Irish whiskey\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some in the crowd cheered Trump\u2019s name and chanted \u201cUSA\u201d.<\/p>\n

A 15% tariff on Irish whiskey \u2013 part of White House measures against EU imports \u2013 disadvantaged it against competitors, including scotch and Northern Ireland<\/a> whiskey, which have no tariffs.<\/p>\n

The decision followed repeated affirmations by Trump that he loves Ireland<\/a> \u2013 and wishes to see the island unified. The avowals undercut the tradition of White House neutrality on the constitutional status of Northern Ireland and prompted responses from London.<\/p>\n

Downing Street said Burnham still believed there was not the required support for unification to trigger a referendum, as set out in the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement. Two weeks ago, Burnham said a referendum was \u201coff the table\u201d.<\/p>\n

Irish nationalists welcomed Trump\u2019s remarks, while the Conservative party and Northern Irish unionists condemned them.<\/p>\n

The taoiseach, Miche\u00e1l Martin, speaks to reporters at the Irish open, at Trump International Golf Links and Hotel in Doonbeg, County Clare. Photograph: Liam McBurney\/PA<\/p>\n

On Sunday Trump expressed delight at the controversy. \u201cMany people agree. I made what I considered to be a fairly routine comment, I have had so much support on that,\u201d he said, speaking from Doonbeg, his county Clare golf resort that is hosting the Irish Open.<\/p>\n

Asked about independence for Scotland<\/a>, he reserved opinion. \u201cI won\u2019t talk about Scotland yet, I will save that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The leaders of Plaid Cymru, the Scottish National party and Sinn F\u00e9in are meeting in Cardiff on Monday, where they will discuss ways to strengthen cooperation for constitutional change.<\/p>\n

Angela Rayner, the UK\u2019s communities secretary, played down the president\u2019s remarks. \u201cDonald Trump is Donald Trump<\/a>, and the president will say and speak his mind as he sees it,\u201d she told Sky News. The government was serious about the Good Friday agreement and would \u201ccontinue on that path\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s comments were awkward for the Irish government, which prefers to discuss cross-border initiatives rather than unification. Last month the taoiseach, Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a>, said that he \u201cgoes bananas\u201d when his Fianna F\u00e1il party colleagues call for a border poll.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Martin said there had been \u201coverreaction\u201d to Trump\u2019s comments. \u201cHe takes a different sort of perspective on things. We know that,\u201d he said. \u201cI think if everyone keeps a calm perspective on things, you know, we will take it from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in figures welcomed Trump\u2019s support for Irish unification. \u201cThey reflect the broad North American sentiment towards Irish unity and particularly the Irish diaspora towards Irish reunification,\u201d said Gerry Adams, the party\u2019s former leader.<\/p>\n

Adams accused successive Irish governments of being \u201cincredibly shortsighted\u201d and failing to plan for unification. \u201cThere is no excuse for this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s comments also proved awkward for Northern Ireland unionists who have supported the president on other topics.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone is allowed a personal opinion even when it\u2019s wrong,\u201d said Ian Paisley Jr, a former Democratic Unionist party MP. \u201cThe political, cultural and economic reality is that Northern Ireland and its people are British and wish to remain so,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Donald Trump has reiterated his support for Irish unification and brushed off Andy Burnham\u2019s opposition to a referendum.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-615066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}