Trump Leaves Irish Puzzled With Post-Brexit Border Promise

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. President Donald Trump reassured Ireland that it has nothing to fear from Brexit, telling the country’s prime minister that the border with Northern Ireland will be “just fine.”

Trump has encouraged the U.K. to split from the European Union with or without a deal to ease its exit. A so-called hard Brexit may mean that checkpoints along the border between the north and south of Ireland have to return. The Irish government says that could threaten peace in Northern Ireland.

Sitting alongside Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar at Shannon Airport in mid-west Ireland on Wednesday, Trump said he anticipated that “probably you’ll ask me about Brexit.”

“It will all work out very well,” he said. “And also for you, with your wall, your border.”

Looking bemused, Varadkar jumped in to explain to Trump that the government is anxious to avoid a border as a result of Brexit.

“The main thing we want to avoid, of course, is a border or a wall between both sides,” he told the president.

The need to keep the Republic of Ireland-Northern Ireland border -- long the scene of tense checkpoints and violent protest -- invisible has shaped Brexit talks and led to an impasse over the so-called backstop.

That plan could tie Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K. to EU rules indefinitely. But supporters of Brexit oppose the backstop as it would limit Britain’s ability to make its own global trade deals.

The EU and Ireland say that a reintroduction of customs controls in Northern Ireland would impose delays and costs on cross-border trade worth more than 3 billion euros a year ($3.4 billion). Moreover, a return to checkpoints and watchtowers could endanger the region’s hard-won peace, as they could become targets for dissidents who oppose the peace process.

Right now, the border between north and south meanders through countryside for some 310 miles (500 kilometers), dividing rivers, fields and even some houses; a change in road signs and accepted currency is pretty much the only indication that a person has moved from Ireland into the U.K.

“The way it works now is good. You want to try and keep it that way,” Trump said. “I know that’s a big point of contention with respect to Brexit, is your border. And I’m sure it’s going to work out well.

“There are a lot of good minds thinking about how to do it, and it’s going to be -- it’s going to be just fine,” he added.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dara Doyle in Dublin at ddoyle1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Alex Wayne, Justin Blum

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