Sitting beside Taoiseach Micheál Martin in Dublin on September 12, 2026, Trump was asked about Irish reunification. “Well, I don't want to cause any trouble,” he said, according to CNN. “But I will tell you, I'd love to see it unified.” He added, “It's going to happen eventually. … I think it will happen now. You've got the right man over here to get it moving,” pointing at Martin, and said it “would be a fantastic thing. Now the UK will have something to say about it … but I think it would be a great thing.” Martin declined to respond to reporters' questions about the remarks. The next day Trump stood by it: “It seems to me that one of the naturals of all time is to put them together.”
The remark broke with a long-standing convention that American presidents do not take sides on whether Northern Ireland should ultimately be British or Irish. Previous presidents, including Joe Biden, who often spoke about his Irish heritage, stayed neutral. That neutrality has practical weight. The United States helped broker the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which largely ended three decades of sectarian violence known as the Troubles. Under it, the UK's Northern Ireland secretary can decide to hold a referendum on Northern Ireland's status and has a duty to call one if it appears likely a majority would vote for unification, and voters in the Republic of Ireland must also approve. Polls show a comfortable majority in Northern Ireland favors remaining in the United Kingdom, though the gap has narrowed slightly since Brexit.
The reaction split along exactly the lines the convention exists to avoid. Downing Street pointed to Prime Minister Andy Burnham's position that a referendum is “off the table.” Gavin Robinson, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, who has publicly supported Trump in the past, said unification would lead to “the destruction of our country” and that “Northern Ireland's constitutional future will be decided by the people of Northern Ireland, not by commentary in London, Dublin or Washington.” Irish nationalist politicians welcomed the comments. Axios noted Trump managed to delight nationalists while alarming Northern Irish politicians who had previously supported him.
Trump later said there “was no good answer” to the question but repeated that unification would be “a very cool thing.” The visit combined government meetings in Dublin with a trip to his golf course in Doonbeg, where he attended the Irish Open.
He did not back off. On September 13 he said he “loved” his comments, and in Dublin he had asked, “I mean, how can it be bad?” Former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams said Trump's remarks “reflect the broad north American sentiment towards Irish unity and particularly the Irish diaspora,” while adding that “we profoundly differ with him on many other matters.” At the Irish Open trophy ceremony at his Doonbeg course the same day, Trump announced he plans to remove a 10 percent tariff on Irish whiskey, saying “everyone has been bugging me saying 'would you do me a favour? It's so unfair what's going on. Could you possibly take the tariffs off of Irish whiskey?'”
Correction (September 15, 2026): an earlier version of this entry said a referendum could be held only at the British government's discretion. Under the agreement, the Northern Ireland secretary has a duty to call one if a majority for unification appears likely.