TAOISEACH Micheal Martin has been welcomed at the White House by US President Donald Trump – who then accused Ireland of taking America’s “pharmaceutical and other companies away through taxation”.
Mr Trump greeted Mr Martin outside and the pair shook hands ahead of their sit-down engagement in the Oval Office this afternoon.
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After exchanging greetings and some remarks on China and Ukraine, Mr Trump told the room: “We do have a massive deficit with Ireland, because Ireland was very smart, they took our pharmaceutical companies away from presidents who didn’t know what they were doing.
“It’s too bad that happened – the Irish are smart, you’re a smart people, you took our pharmaceutical companies and other companies through taxation, improper taxation, they made it very good for companies to move over there.
“We had presidents and people that were involved in this who had no idea what they were doing and they lost big segments of our economy.
“The European Union treats us very badly, they have for years – I saw that and I had it out with them in my first term. Did well but we had to solve other problems and we did, but the European Union’s been very tough and it’s our turn to – you know, we get a turn of that also.
“But they have not been fair, they sue our companies and win massive amounts of money – they sued Apple, won $17 billion, and they use that for other reasons, I guess, or to run the European Union.
“So I’m not knocking it, they’re doing what they should be doing perhaps for the European Union, but it does create ill will.”
He added: “The EU was set up in order to take advantage of the United States.”
Asked if Ireland was also taking advantage of the US, he said: “Of course they are. I have great respect for Ireland, for what they did and they should have done just what they did. But the United States shouldn’t have let that happen. We had stupid leaders, we had leaders who didn’t have a clue.
“All of a sudden Ireland has our pharmaceutical companies, this beautiful island of five million people has got the entire US pharmaceutical industry in its grasps.
“I have property in Ireland, as you know, and I love it, it does great, but I’d like to see the United States not have been so stupid for so many years, not just with Ireland, with everybody.
‘MASSIVE’ TRADE IMBALANCE
“For instance, when the pharmaceutical companies started to go to Ireland, I would have said ‘that’s OK if you want to go to Ireland, I think it’s great, but if you want to sell anything into the United States I’m going to put a 200 per cent tariff on you so you’re never going to be able to sell anything into the United States’.
“You know what they would have done? They would have stayed here.”
Mr Martin acknowledged that pharmaceutical companies here are doing “very well” and said there is room for those firms to grow in the US.
Mr Trump then raised a “massive” trade imbalance with Ireland.
APPLE ‘TREATED VERY BADLY’
Mr Trump told reporters in the Oval Office: “There’s a massive deficit that we have with Ireland and with other countries too, and we want to sort of even that out as nicely as we can, and we’ll work together.
“But the deficit is massive.”
Speaking more about the Apple tax lawsuit, where EU courts ruled that Apple had received unlawful tax advantages from Ireland and that the country had to recover billions in unpaid taxes as a result, Mr Trump said: “Apple’s been treated very badly.
“Look, Apple had tremendously bad luck. I thought they had a very good lawsuit, but they lost $16 billion, 16 billion and they’re after a lot of our American companies.
‘I’M BLAMING THE EU’
“See, that’s what’s unfair. It’s the European Union. I’m not blaming you [Ireland]. I’m blaming the European Union. The European Union’s gone after our companies.
“And Apple’s a great company, and they have to give $16, $17 billion on a lawsuit that I didn’t think was a good lawsuit.”
Mr Trump also said he had not heard that some Northern Ireland political parties have decided to boycott St Patrick’s Day celebrations in Washington, DC over his administration’s stance on Gaza.
Sinn Fein, the SDLP and Alliance had ruled out attending such events.
‘TWO-WAY STREET’
Asked about the boycotts during the meeting, Mr Trump told reporters: “I haven’t heard that, I really haven’t heard that.”
Mr Trump also said he had the Irish voter base in the US “locked up pretty good”.
He added: “If I drained Ireland of all of the companies maybe I’d lose the Irish vote, I don’t know.
“I love it (Ireland), I’ve been there many times, as you know.
‘WE DON’T WANT TO DO ANYTHING TO HURT IRELAND’
“We don’t want to do anything to hurt Ireland. But we do want fairness, and he (Mr Martin) understands that.”
Beforehand, Mr Martin said he intended to highlight a “two-way street” of investment between the nations in a bid to address concerns the president may voice around a US-Ireland trade imbalance.
The meeting comes amid heightened concern that Mr Trump’s protectionist approach to tariffs and tax could pose a significant risk to an Irish economy that is in large part sustained by long-standing investment by US multinationals.
Mr Trump will later be presented with a bowl of shamrock as the centrepiece of the Irish Government’s major overseas diplomatic push in the run-up to St Patrick’s Day on March 17.
MET BY JD VANCE
Earlier, Mr Martin hailed the president’s focus and “progress” on brokering peace since he returned to the Oval Office.
He made the remarks while attending a breakfast meeting at the US vice-president’s official residence as part of a day of engagements in Washington DC.
Mr Martin and his wife Mary were greeted by Vice-President JD Vance and his wife Usha at the US Naval Observatory.
Mr Vance hailed the US relationship with Ireland as “one of the great alliances” between nations.
‘SIGNATURE ACHIEVEMENT’
“One of the things we try to do with this breakfast is just remind people of the important bonds of friendship between the United States and Ireland,” he said.
The Taoiseach praised efforts by the new US administration to place a focus on peace, referring to the conflict in the Middle East and war in Ukraine.
Mr Martin said peace on the island of Ireland is “a signature achievement” of US foreign policy, and that Ireland is ready to “play our part” in ending other conflicts.
“Nowhere is the strength of the US-Irish relationship more in evidence than in our own peace process,” Mr Martin said.
PEACE ‘A DIFFICULT AND PAINSTAKING TASK’
“Forty-four years ago, president Reagan called for a just and peaceful solution to the conflict that has for so long devastated lives on our island.
“Politicians from both sides of the aisle rose to the occasion, and the lasting peace we enjoy today on our island is a signature achievement of US foreign policy.
“This story of peace is one that we both wrote together. We know that building peace is a difficult and painstaking task, and we are ready to play our part in supporting work to end conflict and to secure peace in Ukraine or in the Middle East or wherever.
“We welcome very much the unrelenting focus and effort that President Trump and his administration has brought to this task from his very first days in office, and we welcome the progress that is clearly being made.”
INVITE TO IRELAND
Mr Martin also invited Mr Vance and his wife to Ireland – having previously undertaken a road trip around Ireland in 2023 – and extended a particular invite to Mr Martin’s native Co Cork.
“We would be honoured and delighted to welcome you both back to our shores before too long,” Mr Martin said.
“Now, the vice-president did say the road trip could be somewhat difficult next time around, given the number of vehicles that might have to be attached.”
Referring to his visit to Ireland, Mr Vance praised its “incredible” communities, “beautiful” landscapes and “interesting technological growth”.
SHAMROCK SOCKS
He said: “One of the more robust areas for us to work on with our Irish friends in the years to come is going to be technology and particularly artificial intelligence, as we really take the next stage in an important level of technological progress.”
Sporting a pair of shamrock socks which he showed to the room, Mr Vance added: “The president is a very big fan of conservative dress, and so if he notices these socks, you have to defend this as an important part of cementing the Irish-American relationship.”
Mr Martin thanked Mr Vance for his “warm welcome and hospitality” and joked he would need to “adjust very rapidly” his dress sense after seeing Mr Vance’s socks.
He continued: “The United States has been a steadfast friend of Ireland for centuries. Indeed, the United States was the first country to recognise our long-sought independence,” Mr Martin said.
“Together, we have built deep and enduring political, cultural and economic bonds, greatly enriching our two nations in the process.”
US health secretary Robert F Kennedy and Ireland’s ambassador to the US Geraldine Byrne Nason were among attendees at the US Naval Observatory breakfast meeting.
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