Donald Trump used his visit to Ireland to fan the flames of a decades-long conflict that found an uneasy truce in a 1998 peace deal.
Speaking at a press conference in Dublin, Ireland, the 80-year-old president on Saturday said the Republic of Ireland should be reunified with the United Kingdom’s Northern Ireland.
“Well, I don’t want to cause any problems, but I will tell you I’d love to see it unified. I think it would be a great feather in everybody’s cap if that happened. It’s going to happen eventually,” Trump said, responding to a question from a reporter.
He then said he and Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheál Martin, who was sitting beside him, were actively talking about it, and described Martin as “the right man over here to get it moving.”
The United States’ official position on Irish reunification is one of neutrality. But Trump was decidedly partisan in his remarks.
He continued to boost reunification, saying: “I think it would be a fantastic thing. Now the UK will have something to say about it, obviously. But I think it would be a great thing. I mean, how can it be bad?”
The comments caused a flurry of pushback in the United Kingdom from all sides of politics.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said earlier in the week that there was no clear consensus on a reunification poll.
He did not comment directly on Trump’s thought bubble. A spokesman for the PM referred the media to his earlier statement.
But UK Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch jumped on X to respond, accusing Trump of “shooting from the hip as usual.”
“This sort of loose talk about the future of democratic countries is deeply unhelpful and creates unnecessary tension,” she said.
“Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom. At a time when separatists are in power in Scotland, Wales and NI, we need a Government that will defend the Union clearly and confidently.”
Northern Ireland’s political leaders were equally unimpressed.
“Northern Ireland not a pawn in Trump’s fall out with the UK. Our constitutional future does not depend on him or any other foreign dignitary,” Traditional Unionist Voice party leader Jim Allister said on X.
Ulster Unionist Party leader Jon Burrows said “the only people whose decision counts are the people of Northern Ireland.
“When all is said and done, Northern Ireland’s future will be decided by the people of Northern Ireland. I am confident that we are safer, more secure and more prosperous within the United Kingdom, and that is where we will remain,” he posted to X.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald jumped at Trump’s comments, saying the “conversation on Irish unity has shifted.”
“We have secured peace, and as we approach the 30th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement our national journey is now reunification, which is organised, planned and a peaceful transition,” the BBC reported.
The 1998 Good Friday Agreement brought a fragile peace to a fractured country following three decades of violent fighting over Irish sovereignty.
The agreement says there will be no reunification until a majority of Northern Irish people want a poll held. If a poll was successful, then Ireland would also vote.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
