Trump Says He Would ‘Love’ to See a United Ireland and Believes It Will Eventually Happen

President Donald Trump has said he would “love” to see a united Ireland and believes Irish reunification will eventually happen.

Trump made the remarks in Dublin after meeting Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin.

Asked about the possibility of Ireland and Northern Ireland becoming one country, the U.S. president expressed his personal support for reunification while acknowledging that Britain would have a role in the issue.

The comments amount to an unusually direct intervention by a sitting American president into one of the United Kingdom’s most sensitive constitutional questions.

Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom.

Under the constitutional arrangements established through the peace process, that status can change if a majority in Northern Ireland votes for Irish reunification.

The British government responded to Trump’s comments by saying its position remains unchanged.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham told Parliament earlier this week that he was not aware of evidence demonstrating majority support in Northern Ireland for another referendum and said one would not be held unless that changed.

Trump’s personal preference does not alter those arrangements.

But the remarks are politically significant because they concern the potential departure of part of the territory of one of America’s closest allies.

The underlying democratic principle should work in both directions.

Northern Ireland should not be forced into a united Ireland because politicians in Washington or Dublin favour that outcome.

Nor should London prevent reunification if the people of Northern Ireland eventually demonstrate through the established democratic process that a majority wants constitutional change.

That makes the issue ultimately one of consent rather than the preferences of foreign governments.

American presidents are entitled to hold views about Ireland’s future.

They do not get to determine it.

Northern Ireland’s constitutional future must be decided by the people of Northern Ireland.

If they eventually choose reunification, that decision should be respected.

Until then, foreign leaders should be cautious about speaking as though the constitutional future of part of the United Kingdom has already been decided.

More to follow.

Sources: Reuters, 12 September 2026; Reuters, UK government response