Trump backs Irish unification, drawing rebuke from UK and unionists
The US president said he would welcome a united Ireland, while the UK government said the support required for a referendum was not currently in place.
US President Donald Trump has said he would “love” to see a united Ireland, arguing during a joint press conference with Taoiseach Micheál Martin in Dublin that unification would eventually happen and “may as well happen now”.
Trump described unification as “fantastic” and later acknowledged his comments, made in response to a reporter’s question, would be controversial. He said it would be a “very cool thing”.
The remarks prompted a response from the UK government, which said there was not currently sufficient support to trigger a referendum under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. The position concerns the present threshold for holding a vote, rather than a permanent rejection of a referendum.
Democratic Unionist Party leader Gavin Robinson said Northern Ireland’s constitutional future would be decided by its people, rather than commentary from London, Dublin or Washington. He said Northern Ireland remained part of the UK because that was the settled democratic will of its people.
Trump’s intervention came at the start of a two-day visit to Ireland, centred partly on the Irish Open at his resort in Doonbeg, County Clare. The comments appeared to be an off-the-cuff departure from the position of previous US presidents, but the available material does not indicate a change in established US policy.
