US President Donald Trump will meet Ireland’s leaders on Saturday before attending a golf tournament this weekend, a departure from his recent focus on the Iran war and his party’s effort to maintain power in November’s midterm elections.
The meetings with Ireland’s president and prime minister are not part of an official state visit. But coming after this week’s Republican convention and the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the talks could include politically sensitive topics such as economic issues and Irish leaders’ concerns over the Iran war.
Trump is making his 48-hour foreign trip as his Republican Party campaigns to keep its majorities in both chambers of the US Congress. The Iran conflict has heightened economic concerns among American voters by raising gas prices nationwide.
Anti-war and anti-Trump protests are planned in Dublin and in western Ireland near the Trump International Golf Links in Doonbeg.
Ireland is one of the European Union’s most pro-Palestinian countries and passed a law in July curbing goods trade with settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
