It was perhaps not the welcome Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin had hoped for on an annual US trip to mark Saint Patrick’s Day — a dressing down from Donald Trump on trade and tariffs.
“We do have a massive deficit with Ireland,” the US president said in answer to the very first question he faced with Martin in the Oval Office, before going on to lambast the European Union in general.
Trump promised to respond to tariffs imposed by the EU in retaliation for new US levies on steel and aluminum — an economic shockwave that could hit Ireland too.
Certainly the encounter with the Irish taoiseach, or premier, was calmer than the scene less than two weeks ago when Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky got into a blazing row, also in the Oval Office.
There was even a light-hearted moment as Trump ribbed Vice President JD Vance about the green-and-white shamrock socks he wore to honor Martin’s trip, a tradition by the Irish leader ahead of Saint Patrick’s Day on March 17.
But despite the pleasantries during the visit, the 78-year-old president had a long list of grievances about the Emerald Isle.
Trump said he had “great respect” for Ireland but in the same breath accused it of luring pharma and tech giants to its shores with low taxes.
“This is this beautiful island of five million people, it’s got the entire US pharmaceutical industry in its grip,” Trump said.
