Trump might still be coming af ter all
White House adviser ‘not convinced’ he won’t visit
A SENIOR White House adviser is ‘not convinced’ that the planned US presidential visit to Ireland won’t happen, saying Donald Trump is ‘very eager’ to come.
Reports emerged on Tuesday that the visit, scheduled for November 12, had been cancelled in a move that caught the Irish Government by surprise. A spokesman for the Taoiseach said yesterday that the invitation to president Trump ‘absolutely remains open’, while one of Mr Trump’s close allies talked up the possibility that the State visit could still go ahead.
Kevin Hassett, chief economic adviser to the White House, said ‘something will work out soon’, even if the November visit is cancelled.
‘I know the president and General Kelly are very eager to come to Ireland,’ Mr Hassett told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland. ‘I think we view Ireland as one of our closest and dearest allies and if it doesn’t work out this time, I’m sure… it will work out soon.
‘The thing I can say is that it’s election season in the US and the visit – which I’m not convinced it absolutely won’t happen yet, I checked into it last night – the visit was scheduled for right after the elections. And there are a bunch of things that might have to happen that involve foreign trips, for negotiating reasons and so on, that are all building up against how much time he can spend coming to Ireland and Paris.
‘I think it’s something of a work in progress and even if that trip doesn’t work out, I’m highly confident that everybody in the White House is quite motivated to come visit Ireland.’
The elections to which Mr Hassett, chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, was referring are the forthcoming US midterm elections.
Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney briefed his Cabinet colleagues on the cancellation yesterday morning.
Asked if the trip would be rescheduled, a spokesman for the Taoiseach said: ‘We’re awaiting further developments. The invitation absolutely remains open to the president. I think the Irish Government will work with the president to the greatest extent possible in order to increase the chances of his visit.’
He rejected accusations by Fianna Fáil’s Micheál Martin that the Government had work to do in repairing US-Irish relations. ‘Relations between Ireland and the US are excellent, they always have been and… always will be,’ the spokesman said.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Tuesday: ‘The president will travel to Paris in November as previously announced. We are still finalising whether Ireland will be a stop on that trip.’
Invitation ‘remains open’