US president Donald Trump has insisted the Brexit crisis is “going to work out” in Ireland’s favour and that he believes the UK’s departure from the EU is going to be “very, very good” for this country.
Mr Trump made the predictions as he said he is doing everything he can to end concerns over a hard border, despite having to be corrected by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar after referring to it as “the wall”
Speaking during a joint press conference with Mr Varadkar after landing on Air Force One at Shannon airport and before flying out by helicopter to Doonbeg, Mr Trump told Ireland not to worry about Brexit.
Despite the ongoing economic and hard border threat posed by the crisis, the US president claimed it is “going to work out” and that Brexit itself will be “very, very good” for Ireland.
“It will all work out, it will all work out, especially for you [Ireland], because of your border. I think it will work out here.
“I think that will work out [for the UK] and also for you, with your wall, with your border, I mean we have a border situation in the United States and you have one here, but I hear it’s all going to work out.”
Mr Trump’s reference to the US and Mexico’s border stand-off and his mentioning of “your wall” led Mr Varadkar to interject in front of a packed media conference, saying calmly:
“The thing we want to avoid of course is a border or wall.”
However, Mr Trump returned to the border issue minutes later, again saying he believes Ireland has nothing to worry about by the ongoing Brexit stalemate.
Mr Trump also told reporters that he is working to find a solution to the Irish visa immigration issue with the US, saying he wants to do so for Irish people and people of Irish descent in the US,
“We almost made it last time, we’re looking at that, it was one vote, do you know that, and we’re looking to that, I’m sure that is something we will discuss… I want to do for the people of Ireland, but for the people who are in the US and want this vote to happen and happen to be of Irish descent as well,” he said.
Mr Trump and the US First Lady left Shannon Airport in a helicopter bound for Doonbeg shortly after 6pm where they will spend the evening at the Trump International Hotel.
In a press conference following their meeting, Leo Varadkar says spoke with Donald Trump about Ireland’s issues regarding Brexit and he said he “explained” the history of the border to the US president and also spoke to him about the Troubles.
“We talked Brexit. President Trump shares our objective to keep the border open,” the Taoiseach said.
He said Mr Trump is aware that the border is a “sticking point” when it comes to Brexit but “he didn’t elaborate on why he thinks Brexit would be good for Ireland.”
Mr Varadkar added that Ireland and the United States have a two-way economic relationship.
“Our economic relationship is now a two-way relationship. In fact Ireland has a trade surplus over the US.”
Mr Varadkar defended the government’s expenses for Mr Trump’s presidential visit, saying any money that was spent on this visit was spent for security reasons and none of it was promotional.
I think they’re fans of Ireland pic.twitter.com/0EzjUwvuxJ
— Leo Varadkar (@LeoVaradkar) June 5, 2019
