Trump says he’ll remove tariffs on Irish whiskey

On foreign land but home turf, Donald Trump presented the Irish Open trophy to Shane Lowry at the president’s Doonbeg golf course. He also presented an unexpected “favor”: the elimination of tariffs on Irish whiskey.

“I want to mention one thing. Taoiseach and I talked about it, and Shane talked about it, and everybody’s been bugging me. They’re saying, ‘Would you do me a favor? It’s so unfair what’s going on. Could you possibly take the tariffs off of Irish whiskey?’” Trump said.

“And I said, on behalf of the United States of America, I am going to take the tariffs off,” Trump said, as the crowd erupted.

While not a drinker himself, Trump presented the show of good faith at the end of his quick visit to Ireland — where he made controversial comments voicing support for Irish unification , met with Irish President Catherine Connolly and Taoiseach Micheál Martin, and became the first sitting president to attend the Irish Open.

Irish whiskey faces a 10% tariff, the Trump administration imposed on most imports from the European Union. The president made a similar concession after King Charles and Queen Camilla’s state visit in April, removing tariffs on some Scottish whiskey.

CNN has reached out to the US trade representative for more information, including when the tariffs will be removed.

With the tariffs announcement, Trump appeared to generate a rosier headline from his trip to Ireland, after being met by pushback from the UK government a day earlier for saying Irish unification would be “fantastic.”

Trump said Saturday that he discussed trade with Martin at their bilateral meeting and emphasized the US’ “big relationship with Ireland,” which he said will “continue stronger than ever.”

The relationship between the two countries was also something Martin emphasized during his own remarks at the trophy presentation.

“The Trump family in particular have invested very heavily in the recent decade in this golf course, making it an exceptional and one of the great key golf courses now anywhere in the world,” Martin said of Doonbeg.

“In many ways, the last four days reflects also the very strong relationship, the strength of an enduring relationship between the United States of America and Ireland. We are tied together by history, by family, by friendship,” he added.

During Trump’s trip, the president was far removed from the streets, where protests broke out Saturday in Dublin and in the Doonbeg and Shannon area. He spent the weekend at his own golf club — greeted with chants of “U-S-A” in the packed members bar on Saturday night and cheered on while presenting the trophy on Sunday.

“We’re so proud of the whole Doonbeg, and, frankly, Ireland itself has been so incredible, so inviting,” Trump said.

在异国他乡，却又在自己的主场，唐纳德·特朗普在总统位于杜恩贝格的高尔夫球场为肖恩·劳瑞颁发了爱尔兰公开赛奖杯。他还出人意料地“兑现”了一个承诺：取消对爱尔兰威士忌的关税。

“我想提一件事。我和总理谈过这件事，肖恩也谈过这件事，大家都一直缠着我。他们说，‘你能帮我个忙吗？现在的情况太不公平了。你能不能取消爱尔兰威士忌的关税？’”特朗普说道。

“我代表美利坚合众国宣布，我将取消关税，”特朗普说道，人群顿时沸腾起来。

虽然特朗普本人并不喝酒，但在他短暂访问爱尔兰的最后，他还是表现出了诚意——期间他发表了支持爱尔兰统一的争议性言论，会见了爱尔兰总统凯瑟琳·康诺利和总理米歇尔·马丁，并成为首位出席爱尔兰公开赛的在任总统。

爱尔兰威士忌面临10%的关税，这是特朗普政府对大多数欧盟进口商品征收的关税。今年4月，查尔斯国王和卡米拉王后对英国进行国事访问后，特朗普总统做出了类似的让步，取消了部分苏格兰威士忌的关税。

CNN已联系美国贸易代表，以获取更多信息，包括何时取消关税。

随着关税的宣布，特朗普的爱尔兰之行似乎带来了更为乐观的新闻头条。此前一天，他曾表示爱尔兰统一“非常棒”，并因此遭到英国政府的反对。

特朗普周六表示，他在与马丁的双边会晤中讨论了贸易问题，并强调了美国与爱尔兰的“重要关系”，他表示这种关系将“比以往任何时候都更加牢固”。

在颁奖典礼上，马丁在讲话中也强调了两国之间的关系。

马丁谈到杜恩贝格高尔夫球场时说：“尤其是特朗普家族，在过去十年里对这个高尔夫球场投入了大量资金，使其成为当今世界上最杰出、最重要的高尔夫球场之一。”

“从很多方面来看，过去四天也体现了美国和爱尔兰之间非常牢固、持久的关系。我们因历史、因家庭、因友谊而紧密相连，”他补充道。

特朗普此行期间，远离了周六在都柏林、杜恩贝格和香农地区爆发的抗议活动。他周末待在自己的高尔夫俱乐部——周六晚上，在挤满会员的酒吧里，人们高呼“美国”迎接他的到来；周日，当他颁奖时，人们也为他欢呼。

“我们为整个杜恩贝格感到无比自豪，坦白说，爱尔兰本身也令人难以置信，非常热情好客，”特朗普说。