Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Simon Harris, and eight Irish ministers will visit the United States for St. Patrick’s Day week, bringing the total number of Government figures traveling to ten.
This is slightly fewer than the 11 officials who visited in 2024. However, Harris, who also serves as Foreign Affairs Minister, is expected to emphasise to the Cabinet the significance of this year’s visits in strengthening Irish-US economic and diplomatic ties.
The itinerary includes stops in multiple US cities, such as Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Seattle, Chicago, Atlanta, Savannah, San Francisco, and Washington DC. The Taoiseach’s visit will focus on economic relations as he travels to Texas and Washington, while Harris plans to visit New York and Philadelphia.
“I’ll be visiting Texas, Austin, as well as Washington, and there’ll be an economic dimension to my visit there, as well as cultural and obviously meeting with diaspora as well,” Martin said.
While he has yet to receive an invitation to meet US President Donald Trump, Martin said he expects the meeting to take place. “These things get worked out” closer to the visit, he stated, adding, “There is never actually a specific invitation. It just gets worked out between the two administrations. We’re anticipating the tradition will be continued again.”
He stressed the importance of maintaining these diplomatic visits “no matter who is the US President” and said they play a key role in Ireland’s global trade position and engagement with the diaspora.
“It’s important, given our global trading position, and also to meet with the Irish diaspora, and Irish communities across the globe who celebrate St Patrick’s Day,” he said.
“There’s a particular focus on the United States this year, and given our extended diplomatic footprint that we’ve established over the last number of years in different states.”
As of now, the White House has not confirmed the Taoiseach’s traditional Patrick’s Day visit, though Government sources say this isn’t unusual.
Meanwhile, tensions are rising in US-EU trade relations after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen vowed EU retaliation in response to Trump’s decision to impose 25% tariffs on EU steel and aluminium exports.
Trump has announced a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminium imports into the US, eliminating previous exemptions for allies such as Canada and the EU. He has also suggested he may extend tariffs to pharmaceutical goods and computer chips – a move that could significantly impact Ireland’s economy.
In January 2024, pharmaceuticals accounted for 48% of Ireland’s total exports.
As for Irish-EU relations, shortly before President Trump’s inauguration, Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Harris insisted that he was only speaking “in a lighthearted manner” when he called Trump a “gowl” in 2020.
However, he has previously said that he hd “no intention” of apologising for the remarks, and that he believes Donald Trump “understands the rough and tumble of politics”.