No 'irreparable damage' to Ireland-US relationship, says ambassador

Andrew Puzder, Donald Trump's ambassador to Brussels, said if any damage had been done by criticism of the US, it was not lasting

The ambassador said he could not say that damage had been done in the first year of the second Donald Trump administration by comments critical of the US war in Iran by President Catherine Connolly or other Irish criticisms of the US. File picture: Jacqueline Dormer

No irreparable damage has been done to the Irish relationship with the US, the country's ambassador to the EU has said.

Speaking to journalists at the US ambassador's residence in Dublin on Wednesday, Andrew Puzder said he could not say that damage had been done in the first year of the second Donald Trump administration by comments critical of the US war in Iran by President Catherine Connolly or other Irish criticisms of the US.

However, he added that if any damage had been done, it was not lasting.

“It could have been damaged, I'm not going to tell you whether it was damaged or not,” he said.

“I think you have relationships with friends that sometimes are better than at other times. 

"I don't think there was irreparable damage. 

"But you don't have to agree with us on everything, and you don't have to agree with President Trump on everything. 

"Over time, this is a relationship that will last.”

Mr Puzder, who has been Mr Trump's ambassador to Brussels since last January, praised European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen as "a very brilliant, talented woman", but criticised EU regulations and competitiveness, particularly in AI.

"America wants the European Union, and Europe in general, to be prosperous. 

"A prosperous Europe is a better trade partner, a prosperous Europe is better able to defend itself," he said.

“We really need to see Europe move into the AI economy.

“There’s a tremendous amount of regulation, well intended, but which has caused Europe to miss the digital economy and to have declining GDP growth compared to the United States in particular.”

He said that what was needed to be a force in AI was all available in Ireland, but it needs looser EU regulations.

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“You need data centres, data, and the US AI hardware stack,” he said.

“They're in Ireland. It's Meta, it's Google, it's the American tech companies. 

"You need energy regulations that acknowledge the fact that you need fossil fuels and we want them to be less expensive, not more expensive.”

On Iran, Mr Puzder said that Mr Trump was forced to intervene for fear of Iran gaining access to nuclear weapons. 

He said that there was "no political advantage" to Mr Trump involving the US and that "“this is a chance to eliminate this problem, rather than kicking the can down the road".

“The Democrats, you know, they’re going to criticise him, whatever he does. And... the Maga movement who supports him, they don’t want to get involved in wars overseas either,” he said.

“So if he made the decision to do this, particularly with a midterm election coming up, the only explanation is that... he believed this was the right thing to do. 

"And I think people will see the wisdom of that over time.”