“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 that’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.
“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.”
Micheal Martin with Donald Trump and Vice-President J.D. Vance, wearing shamrock socks in the Oval Office. Credit: Getty Images
Martin, who reportedly was counselled by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer ahead of the Trump meeting, responded to Trump with gentle pushbacks, countering that the trade relationship is “a two-way street,” and that Ireland’s two largest airlines buy more aircraft from Boeing than anyone else outside of America.
“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.”
The meeting also turned to comedian Rosie O’Donnell, who had disclosed a day earlier that she had moved to Ireland to escape the US, and would only consider returning to America “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there”.
When a reporter asked Martin why his country would let O’Donnell immigrate, Trump jumped at the opening.
Donald Trump praised mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor, saying he liked his tattoos.Credit: AP
“I like that question,” the president said, adding that Martin was “better off not knowing” about O’Donnell, who has feuded with Trump for years.
Trump also named mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor, who lost a civil rape lawsuit last year, as his favourite Irish person, partly because “he’s got the best tattoos I’ve ever seen”. Trump is well known for his support of Ultimate Fighting Championship and attended bouts during the 2024 presidential campaign.
He noted that Martin’s father was an acclaimed boxer, but motioned to Martin saying, “You’re so smooth,” suggesting he did not look like a boxer.
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“I’m a pretty good defensive boxer,” Martin joked in reply.
The taoiseach returned to the White House later in the evening, where he presented Trump with a bowl of shamrocks – an annual tradition to mark St Patrick’s Day.
AP
