Could McIlroy and O’Donnell help Ireland avoid Trump’s tariffs?

Ireland may need to swap diplomacy for celebrity charm as it seeks to influence Trump’s stance on trade tariffs

President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, in Washington. Picture: AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Asking our celebrities and sporting heroes to pull on the green jersey as part of a Trump charm offensive may be the most successful strategy in wooing the US leader.

As politicians and economists tried to ascertain the true ramifications of the trade tariffs announcement made by Donald Trump from his beloved Mar-a-Lago beach and golf resort this weekend, two of our finest sports stars had fans enthralled as they fought it out just three hours away on California's famous Pebble Beach course.

In the end Rory McIlroy impressively beat off Shane Lowry by two shots to claim victory in the PGA Tour signature tournament on Sunday.

Engineering a five-hour exclusive meeting with the president of the United States would usually be a ridiculous and impossible endeavour, but for a leader who owns 17 golf courses worldwide and has claimed to have a handicap of 2.8, a chance to play a round of golf with one, or maybe two, of the world's top golfers would be an offer he couldn't refuse.

It may be an unorthodox approach, but Mr Trump is not a politician who plays by the rules and novel interventions will be required to appeal to his unique way of thinking and governing. Just two weeks in office, and he has already cut ties with the World Health Organisation (WHO); issued a raft of controversial pardons; signed an order to build a missile defence shield for the US, similar to Israel's Iron Dome; withdrawn from the Paris climate agreement and has declared that the US will only recognise "two sexes, male and female".

The most concerning development is the imposition of tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico, which come into force on Tuesday and which have sparked retaliatory responses from all three states sparking a trade war that could fuel another global inflationary cycle. He has vowed that the EU, which has treated the US "so terribly" is next.

In a sign of how Mr Trump can be swayed, last night the levies on Mexican goods were paused for a month after a side deal was agreed in relation to the deployment of border troops.

Bewildered by the scale of use of executive orders - both swift and unprecedented - Ireland and the wider EU has taken a largely measured approach with senior sources stressing how critical it now is not to "irk" the US administration.

At his first Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels last week, Tánaiste Simon Harris said countries must now engage with Mr Trump in "a way which he relates to".

I think Europe should not just become a multilateral organisation that talks about Mr Trump, we should also be one that talks about what we are going to do ourselves.

"We are not just commentators on the outcomes of other people's elections, we are the European Union," Mr Harris said, adding that the 27-State bloc must "now control what we can control."

Mr Harris will this week kick-off what senior sources have described as a "significant set of interventions" including the establishment of two Strategic Economic Advisory Panels (Seap) - one in Ireland and one in the US - aimed at insulating our economy from trade shocks.

The American-based group could include executives from Stripe, Glanbia, Greencore and Smurfit Westrock.

While engaging business leaders in the US is the type of proactive approach required, it is clear that the new US leader is often more taken in by the glitzy world of fame and not the tedium of diplomacy.

Mr McIlroy has already indulged in a round of golf with the President, playing 18 holes on his Florida course in 2017.

In 2020, he said he had no regrets about playing golf with Mr Trump, but hitting out at his stance on Covid he said he was unlikely to ever play another round with him again.

Could the Taoiseach convince him to change his mind in the interest of the country? But why stop at golf.

Mr Trump has amassed a diverse circle of high profile roadies. Aside from the billionaires and tech bros; UFC boss Dana White, singers Kid Rock, Carrie Underwood and Billy Rae Cyrus along with rapper Nelly have all been involved in his rallies and inauguration events.

Given Mr Trump's love of country music, perhaps the likes of Nathan Carter or Daniel O'Donnell could be deployed on behalf of Ireland.

Mr Trump often name drops podcaster Joe Rogan, who he joined for three hours ahead of November's elections, while fellow comedian podcaster Theo Von was among those spotted at the inauguration.

Could the hit podcast platforms of The 2 Johnnies or Vogue Williams be utilised as part of a project to impress Trump this side of the Atlantic and convince him against imposing tariffs?

It may be all straying into the realms of the utterly bizarre, but it's a sphere Mr Trump seems comfortable inhabiting.