Trump praised the Irish Prime Minister but spoke about the European Union as an opponent of the US that had been treating his country “unfairly” for decades.
US president Donald Trump added Ireland to the list of countries he says are taking advantage of the United States as he welcomed Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin to the White House.
Martin, who was visiting the US as part of annual St Patrick’s Day celebrations, countered by noting Ireland’s contributions to the US.
Trump has been sparring with US allies and adversaries alike over trade, slapping tariffs on imports from countries from Canada to China and in between.
During the appearance with Martin, Trump repeated his claim that the European Union was made just to stick it to the US.
Asked if Ireland, a member of the EU, was taking advantage, too, Trump said, “of course they are. I have great respect for Ireland and what they did and they should have done just what they did, but the United States shouldn’t have let it happen.”
His comments were made referring to the concentration of US pharmaceutical companies in Ireland, due to the country’s tax policies.
“We had stupid leaders. We had leaders that didn’t have a clue or let’s say they weren’t businesspeople, but they didn’t have a clue what was happening and all of a sudden Ireland has our pharmaceutical companies,” Trump said.
Martin countered that the trade relationship is “a two-way street,” adding that Ireland’s two largest airlines buy more aircrafts from Boeing than anyone else outside of America.
He added that hundreds of Irish companies were based in America, creating thousands of jobs. “That’s a little-known fact that doesn’t turn up in the statistics,” he added.
“I understand where you’re coming from, fully,” Martin told Trump, “But I think it’s a relationship that we can develop and that will endure into the future.”
It was Trump’s first Oval Office meeting with a foreign leader since his recent sit-down with Ukrainian president Voldymr Zelenskyy, which morphed into a shouting match as they jousted over ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The session ended with Zelnskyy being asked to leave the White House.
