President Donald Trump said Saturday he would “love” to see Ireland unify with the U.K.’s Northern Ireland, remarks that received immediate pushback from unionists in the region.
\n\nThe comments come two weeks after new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said a referendum on Northern Ireland leaving the United Kingdom was “off the table.”
\n\nTrump, who is visiting Dublin ahead of a golf tournament at one of his resorts, told reporters: “Well, I don’t want to cause any problems, but I will tell you, I’d love to see it unified. It’s going to happen eventually.”
\n\n“Now the U.K. will have something to say about it … but I think it would be a great thing,” he added, while sitting next to Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheál Martin.
\n\nAt a later event with business leaders, Trump said that there was “no good answer” to the question, but reaffirmed: “It would be, I think, a very cool thing, to be honest with you.”
\n\nUnder the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, the power to call a referendum within Northern Ireland sits with the British government, with a duty to call a border poll if it appears likely that a majority of people in…
Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business