Taoiseach at the White House: Trump wants Martin to buy US liquified natural gas

Michael Bolton

• Donald Trump says fuel prices will drop after Iran war ends
• Trump critical of Starmer's approach to Iran war and immigration
• Trump hopes to attend Irish Open in Co Clare in September
• Martin started the day at breakfast with US Vice President JD Vance
• The annual shamrock ceremony is due to take place around 9pm Irish time

Ireland can address a “tremendous” trade imbalance with the US by buying American liquified natural gas (LNG), Donald Trump has said.

Trump said Ireland had “better do something” to bring the trade deficit down.

Speaking at the Friends of Ireland Luncheon for St Patrick’s Day at the US Capitol Building, Trump said: “We have a tremendous deficit, by the way. I looked at the numbers.

“You guys are much better business people than our past politicians.”

Turning to Martin, he added: “We have to talk about that deficit – are we allowed to talk about that today?”

Trump referenced the more than six billion dollars being invested into the US by Irish companies, before adding: “And I’m hopeful that we’ll soon reach a deal to sell American liquefied natural gas – and that’ll bring down your deficit a lot – so I think you have to make this deal with us, you better do something.

“But these companies are going to be fuelling your homes and factories and all of the other things.

“We got a lot of, we have a lot of energy in this country. We have more than anybody, most energy of any country in the world, by far.

“So we want to sell a little to you, and the deficit will come down, down, down, and everybody’s going to be happy.

“So you gotta buy a lot of our stuff.”

Trump has said energy prices in Ireland will “drop like a rock” after the war with Iran ends.

He was asked what his message was to Irish people who are paying high energy prices because of the US-Israeli attack on Iran.

“I think the people in Ireland are very happy that I’m getting rid of – I have a lot of friends from Ireland, they’re very happy that I’m getting rid of – a nuclear power, a nuclear terrorist.

“And as soon as that war is over, which will be soon, your prices are going to drop like a rock. You watch.”

Ireland believes in “robust and fair” rules around immigration, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said

Martin said he would “love” to develop a legal pathway for migration between the US and Ireland.

He said: “In Ireland, our population is growing but in a very positive way.

“Our economy is going well because we’re attracting a lot of people from Europe and beyond in to work in our country.”

He added: “I think sometimes Europe gets characterised in terms of it being ‘overrun’.

“It’s much more robust now, a much stronger mechanism in place to facilitate legal migration, and I think it’s important.”

The 40-minute meeting in the Oval Office involved Trump responding to President Catherine Connolly’s criticism of US-Israeli attacks on Iran by saying the world “should be thankful” for the intervention.

Micheál Martin has said that Trump “has the capacity” to get along with European leaders.

He was speaking after Trump said British prime minister Keir Starmer was not supportive of the US military offensive on Iran.

Martin said the relationship between Europe and the US is “very, very important”, and Starmer had “done a lot to reset” the Irish-British relationship.

He said previous issues between the EU and the US last year, where there was the threat of a tariff war, were resolved.

“I think we can get landing zone again,” Mr Martin said.

Martin said of Keir: “I do believe that he’s a very earnest, sound person. With him, you have a capacity to get on with, you’ve got on with him before.”

Trump said he is “disappointed” with Nato, but that he was not currently rethinking his relationship with the alliance.

He said: “We help other countries, and when they don’t help us, I mean, it’s certainly something that we should think about.”

Asked if he was afraid that a ground invasion of Iran would be a repeat of the US-Vietnam war, Mr Trump said: “I’m really not afraid of anything.”

Trump has said he would visit China in five or six weeks, and that there was a “very good” economic relationship with China.

“I look forward to seeing President Xi. He looks forward to seeing me, I think,” he said in the White House on Tuesday while meeting Micheál Martin.

“But I do look forward to seeing we have a good relationship with China. China has actually become economically, for us, very good, very good.

“Much different than it was in the past, and we have a very good working relationship with China. So we’re making it in about five or six weeks.”

The US prevented “nuclear holocaust” by bombing Iran, Trump has said.

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office: “I said Iran was a big threat to this country, to this world of ours, and turned out I was right.”

He added: “You can’t let them have a nuclear weapon. If they got a nuclear weapon, I would say they would have used it within 24 hours after having it.

“And they would have had it if we didn’t bomb them out from the great raid with the B2 bombers.

“Eight months ago or so, you would have had a nuclear war in the Middle East and maybe beyond.”

Turning to the Taoiseach, he said: “I think it would have hit Europe, maybe not Ireland, but it would have hit Europe.

He added: “It is big enough you would have been affected.”

Trump has said that an objection to building a ballroom extension to his hotel and golf course in Co Clare was not “the biggest problem”.

He was asked about objections to the ballroom extension being submitted due to the threat it posed to snails.

Asked about it in the White House on Tuesday, he said: “The course was built, and it’s been operated very successfully.

“An environmental group is objecting (because of) small snails? Doesn’t sound like the biggest problem.”

Trump has said he is “going to try” to attend the Irish Open golf tournament when it is hosted at the Doonbeg course he owns in Co Clare in September.

Trump expressed hope that he would be visiting Ireland in the autumn as he met the Taoiseach in the Oval Office in the White House.

“You have a tremendous golf tradition, and it was chosen for the Irish Open, which is a big deal. That’s a big event,” he told reporters.

“Everybody wants me to be there. You (Mr Martin) just said, ‘I hope you’re going to go’.

“We’re going to try. We are going to try. But it would be an honour.

The US does not need any help in the Strait of Hormuz, Trump has said.

Asked what assistance the US needed from Nato allies, Mr Trump told reporters in the Oval Office: “We don’t need any help actually.”

The president said Nato allies agreed with the US’s war in the Middle East but had not come “to help”.

Trump said: “All of the Nato allies agreed with us, and they don’t want to – despite the fact that we helped them so much.

“We have thousands of soldiers in different countries all over the world, and they don’t want to help us.”

He added: “I think Nato is making a very foolish mistake.”

Micheál Martin has thanked Donald Trump for “affirming the tremendous bonds” between Ireland and the US during a meeting in the Oval Office.

The Taoiseach is meeting the US president at the White House as part of the leader of Ireland’s annual visit to Washington DC for St Patrick’s Day.

“In many ways our connection is foundational, it’s historic, and the Irish have helped to build America,” Mr Martin said.

“We’re very proud of that connection and we think you hosting us here in the White House is affirmation to all the Irish-Americans out there and to our diaspora in this country for what they’ve contributed to America.”

Martin told him 23 US presidents had Irish heritage, as Mr Trump said they were “great politicians”.

The Taoiseach and US president Donald Trump are now meeting in the Oval Office.

Trump welcomes Micheál Martin, noting the “tremendous bonds between Ireland and the United States”.

“We’re going to have some big discussions today concerning trade, concerning lots of different subjects. We have a tremendous trade relationship with Ireland, and we’ll keep it that way. I think it’s going to be expanded very greatly,” Trump said, adding that tariffs may also be discussed (as they were last year).

He added: “We’re going to have some big discussions today concerning trade, concerning lots of different subjects.

“We have a tremendous trade relationship with Ireland and we’ll keep it that way. I think it’s going to be expanded very quickly.

“Probably they want to talk a little bit about tariffs, but I won’t mention that – you might want to be discussing that a little bit.”

The director of the National Counterterrorism Centre in the US has announced his resignation, citing his concerns about the justification for military strikes in Iran and saying he “cannot in good conscience” back the Trump administration’s war.

“Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,” Joe Kent said in a statement posted on social media.

Kent, a former political candidate with connections to right-wing extremists, was confirmed to his post last July on a 52-44 vote.

As head of the National Counterterrorism Centre, he was in charge of an agency tasked with analysing and detecting terrorist threats.

His resignation reflects unease within President Donald Trump’s base about the war and shows that questions about the justification for the use of force in Iran extend to the right of Trump’s base and to senior members of his administration.

The meeting between Martin and Trump in the Oval Office is imminent.

A special edition of Ulysses and Donegal wool socks were among gifts exchanged at a meeting between Taoiseach Micheal Martin and US vice president JD Vance.

Martin started what he described as an “unforgettable day” with a breakfast meeting with Mr Vance at his official residence in Washington DC.

The Taoiseach, accompanied by his wife Mary, met the vice president and the second lady of the United States at Number One Observatory Circle.

The meeting is a traditional part of the Irish premier’s annual visit to Washington to mark St Patrick’s Day, and precedes a bilateral with the US president.

In a short address prior to the breakfast, Mr Vance said Ireland is an important economic and trading partner as about 375,000 US jobs depend on the country in one form or another.

He added: “But I actually think that understates the cultural friendship between the United States and Ireland.

“So many of the greatest Americans were people who came from Ireland or their families came from Ireland.

“In the Republican Party, of course, we revere Ronald Reagan, a great Irishman and a great president of the United States.”

Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill and other party leaders were “wrong” to have stayed away from Washington DC on St Patrick’s Day, Stormont’s Communities Minister said.

Traditionally, political leaders from across the island of Ireland have taken part in events in the United States for the national saint’s day.

O’Neill and her Sinn Féin colleagues are boycotting events for a second year in a row in protest at US policy towards Gaza.

O’Neill last month said she could not live with a decision to travel to Washington DC while the US administration was “threatening to annex and steal” the land of the Palestinian people.

DUP MLA Gordon Lyons on Tuesday said leaders “need to show up” for Northern Ireland.

“The First Minister has refused to attend, other political leaders have refused to attend, I think that is wrong, I think that we need to show up,” he said.

“I have been doing this for a number of years, I don’t agree with everything that every incumbent in the White House says or does. I came along when Joe Biden was in office, I certainly didn’t agree with everything that he was doing either, but I come because it is important to engage with the US administration.”