DUBLIN — President Donald Trump said Saturday he would “love to see” Irish reunification, breaking with Washington’s long-standing neutrality on one of the most politically sensitive issues facing Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Trump expressed his desire for Ireland to reunify during a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, injecting fresh controversy into a two-day trip for the Irish Open golf tournament that has drawn protests across the country.
“Well I don’t want to cause any problems, but I will tell you, I’d love to see it unified,” Trump told reporters when asked for his view on the matter, acknowledging he was entering sensitive political territory after a morning of ceremonial diplomacy. “I think it would be great, a great feather in everybody’s cap if that happens. It’s going to happen eventually.”
“It might as well happen now,” he added, saying that Martin was the “right” man “to get it moving.” “How could it be bad?”
The United States has long avoided taking sides on Irish reunification. The Clinton administration helped broker the Good Friday Agreement, the 1998 accord that effectively ended three decades of violent strife in Northern Ireland, widely known as “the Troubles.”
George Mitchell, a former Democratic senator from Maine, oversaw the talks as President Bill Clinton’s envoy.
Under the accord, Northern Ireland can at any time join the Republic of Ireland if a majority of people on both sides vote for unification. But the question of keeping Northern Ireland part of the United Kingdom remains an electric issue for London. Britain is widely considered the closest ally of the United States.
The architects of the Good Friday Agreement, John Hume and David Trimble, were awarded the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize, which Trump during his second term has aggressively but unsuccessfully sought to win.
Trump frequently challenges the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries, including some of the United States’ closest allies, pushing foreign governments to weigh whether to dismiss his rhetoric, confront him publicly or prepare for the possibility that he intends to act on it.
Iceland summoned the U.S. ambassador after Trump posted a map Monday depicting the country and other territories covered by the American flag. Canada, meanwhile, has become mired in an escalating trade war with the U.S. as Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex the country as the 51st state and has referred to Prime Minister Mark Carney as a “governor.” Earlier this year, leaders of NATO and Denmark balked at Trump’s threats to use military force to annex Greenland, before he suddenly backed down.
Trump’s call for Irish reunification extend that pattern into another politically and historically fraught territorial dispute, reflecting his penchant for upending the diplomatic norms and institutional guardrails of the U.S.-led post-World War II order.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s office on Saturday said the prime minister was not aware of a change in public opinion that would warrant a referendum on the terms of the Good Friday agreement “and until that changes, there will not be one.”
The delicate issue of Ireland and Northern Ireland was a major factor in Brexit, the U.K.’s decision to quit the European Union, with Ireland remaining in the bloc. Special arrangements had to be made to ensure that no provisions in the U.K.’s agreements to leave the E.U. violated the Good Friday agreement.
“The people of Northern Ireland neither want a referendum, nor unification,” Nigel Farage, a member of Parliament, driving force behind Brexit and once a strong ally of the president, said on X. “I disagree with President Trump.”
Ireland’s Foreign Minister Helen McEntee said the matter wasn’t up to the U.S.
“Something to this magnitude can only happen where there’s consent from the Irish people,” she said, according to the BBC. “It’s something that we have to work on and we have to work towards.”
Some advocates for reunification said Trump’s comments should prompt action from Ireland’s prime minister, known as the taoiseach. Support for Irish unity has grown significantly in recent years in Northern Ireland, but a clear majority favors remaining part of the United Kingdom, according to a survey conducted in 2024 by the Irish Times and the Arins Project. A majority of people in Ireland favor reunification.
“President Trump’s comments on Irish reunification are timely,” Mary Lou McDonald, leader of the nationalist party Sinn Fein, wrote on X. “The Taoiseach must now begin planning for a united Ireland.”
The party, once the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, has gained ground in recent years with a focus on bread-and-butter issues and effective power-sharing in Northern Ireland, where its members have governed alongside unionists.
Trump departed for Ireland and his Trump International Golf Links resort in Doonbeg after the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, where he pledged $5,000 payouts for U.S. adults if the GOP retains control of Congress in November. Some Republican strategists have expressed concerns about the president’s competing priorities with the midterms, as he frequently downplays economic issues that Americans say are their top concerns. Voters, too, have expressed concerns in multiple polls that Trump is focused on the wrong issues, as he spends time on the unpopular ballroom or renaming Lake Ontario.
Trump’s love of golf has long shaped his presidential travel. His trips to his resorts in Europe generated significant controversy in his first term, as Democrats and government watchdogs raised concerns about taxpayers paying a high price to fund trips that could financially benefit his family business. A Democrat-led House panel in 2019 launched an investigation into whether Trump improperly profited from Vice President Mike Pence’s stay at the Doonbeg resort.
The White House did not respond to a request for an estimate about how much the trip was costing taxpayers. A Washington Post analysis of federal contracts found at least $1.2 million in contracts associated with lodging, security and transportation in Dublin and Doonbeg this month. That figure would not include some other costs of the trip that could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, including the two transatlantic Air Force One flights.
Three of the contracts identified by The Post were associated with lodging in Doonbeg, totaling $84,000. The White House did not respond when asked whether those funds were going to Trump’s own resort. There are few other large lodging options in the village.
Trump’s morning in Dublin began with an arrival ceremony at Áras an Uachtaráin, the home of Irish President Catherine Connolly. Connolly, a top critic of Trump’s actions in the Middle East, presented him with a collection of poems from Belfast-born Michael Longley. Her office noted the volume includes “Ceasefire,” a poem that draws on a moment of reconciliation in Homer’s Iliad to evoke the cycle of violence during Northern Ireland’s troubles.
Trump met with Connolly for longer than expected, and U.S. chief of protocol Monica Crowley called the meeting “constructive.”
He then met with Martin at Farmleigh House, a state guesthouse that was a residence of the Guinness family, where Martin highlighted the “sporting connection” between the countries.
After meeting at the residence of ambassador to Ireland, Edward Walsh, Trump doubled down on his reunification comments, while acknowledging he had stoked controversy.
“It’s one of those questions where no matter what you say, there’s no good answer,” he said, adding that unification would “be a cool thing.”
In a signal of the personal nature of his trip, Trump’s delegation was composed mostly of family, close aides and Walsh. He was joined by his son Donald Trump Jr., his daughter-in-law Bettina Anderson, three of his grandchildren and longtime aides Dan Scavino and Natalie Harp.
Trump teased Walsh, a Trump National Golf Club member and construction executive from Bedminster, New Jersey, about how he had one of the best ambassador positions, which mostly requires playing golf.
“He’s a good golfer and never cheats,” Trump said. “I know a lot of good golfers who cheat like hell.”
The crowd at the ambassador’s residence cheered when Trump teased the tournament and said that golfer Shane Lowry was leading.
Air Force One then ferried Trump to Shannon Airport, completing sharp, aerial turns over the golf tournament. Trump then arrived at the Irish Open, landing in a helicopter on the shoulder of the Doonbeg golf course.
Victoria Craw in London contributed to this report.
correctionA previous version of this article incorrectly said the Canadian prime minister’s first name. He is Mark Carney, not Jay.
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