Trump touches a nerve while in Ireland by saying reunification would be ’fantastic’

Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription

President Donald Trump walks to the presidential limousine, known as "The Beast," after arriving on Air Force One at Dublin Airport, on September 12, 2026, in Dublin | Photo Credit: AP

U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday (September 12, 2026) that a unified Ireland would be “fantastic” as he waded into a complex and politically charged subject during a weekend visit to a tournament at his Irish golf course.

At a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin in Dublin, Mr. Trump said he would love to see the reunification of the Republic of Ireland with the United Kingdom's Northern Ireland.

“I don’t want to cause any problems but I’d love to see it unified," Mr. Trump told a reporter who sought his opinion on the issue. "It’s going to happen eventually. It may as well happen now.

“I think it would be a fantastic thing," the Republican president said, adding that "the U.K. will have something to say about it, obviously.”

At his next stop, Mr. Trump acknowledged there is “no good answer” to the reunification question as he addressed business leaders from both countries gathered at the U.S. ambassador's residence.

Competing visions of Northern Ireland — whether Irish or British — drove decades of violence in the six-county region that has a Protestant majority and has remained part of the U.K.

Previous American presidents, including Democrat Joe Biden, who has strong emotional ties to Ireland, have avoided commenting directly on the subject.

Ireland, long dominated by its bigger neighbor Britain, became a self-governing Catholic-majority country a century ago. Northern Ireland was split between two main communities: nationalists, most of them Catholic, who desired union with the rest of Ireland, and largely Protestant unionists, who wanted to stay British. Tensions eventually exploded in the Troubles involving paramilitary groups on both sides and British troops.

A 1998 peace accord that the United States was instrumental in negotiating largely ended the violence, but left Northern Ireland’s ultimate status unresolved. That agreement allows for a vote on unification if it appears likely a majority of people would vote for it. U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Wednesday (September 9, 2026) that the U.K. would only consider allowing a referendum “when public opinion has changed to the point where the call has to be considered.” Mr. Burnham’s office referred back to that comment when asked about Mr. Trump’s statement.

Mr. Trump's comments on Saturday (September 12, 2026), along with recent statements about the Falkland Islands, a small British overseas territory in the South Atlantic Ocean that Argentina calls Las Malvinas, could also be viewed as a dig at Britain, given his anger over London's refusal to be drawn into the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.

Mr. Trump once more raised the prospect of conflict between the U.K. and Argentina over the Falklands.