Irish Examiner view: The impact of Trump’s many whims
President Donald Trump in Washington this week. Picture: Evan Vucci/AP
Instead of watering down threats to take over Greenland amid a growing crisis for Nato, the US ramped up the rhetoric again on Wednesday even suggesting it is now considering buying the territory from Denmark.
Following Danish requests for an urgent meeting, US secretary of state, Marco Rubio confirmed he plans to meet Danish officials next week to discuss Greenland, but did little to dial down concerns.
Mr Rubio told reporters that it has always been Mr Trump's wish to "acquire" Greenland and he is not the first president to explore that possibility.
If things weren't strange enough, White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, later threw a possible purchase into the mix: “His team is currently talking about what a potential purchase would look like," she told reporters.
The Europeans, potentially those with the most to lose as a result of American expansionism, have taken a severe jolt as they try on two fronts to contain Trump.
On the one hand they’re looking to the US to secure credible security for postwar Ukraine from Russia.
On the other, they’re trying to stop him annexing Greenland.
Europe’s ‘coalition of the willing’ sundered in the face of Washington’s continued assault on political norms.
All of that coalition announced progress on security assurances for Ukraine, but only some signed up to a statement of solidarity with Denmark.
Individual leaders appear terrified of crossing Trump on Greenland, yet alive to the need to keep the Americans on board when it comes to defending Ukraine and, ultimately, Europe itself and anywhere else for that matter.
Trump himself was busy again on Truth Social claiming he would not desert Nato while at the same time taking the opportunity to have another pop.
“We will always be there for Nato, even if they won’t be there for us,” he wrote.
These are truly uncertain times and the often-obtuse worlds of politics and diplomacy have been upended by the stark truth of an empowered and trigger-happy president in Washington.
It now seems certain that the Mercosur trade deal between the EU and several South American countries will finally be signed off this week, with grudging Irish acceptance.
The Government, spurred on by a very vocal Irish farm lobby, has long opposed Mercosur on the basis that it could flood Europe with substandard beef products, but it may have been backed into a corner by its European allies who want to see the deal done.
Ireland, along with France, has been among the most strident opponents of the trade deal, but compromises negotiated by the EU Commission look like being enough to force the deal through.
It had been hoped to sign off on Mercosur several weeks ago — it has been 25 years in the making — but a deciding vote was put off until this week.
With Italy finally coming on board with its support in recent days, the commission now has enough backing to bring the matter to a conclusion.
It doesn't help that the Government seems at odds about the deal which will allow Mercosur countries to export up to 99,000 tonnes of beef into the EU at a much-reduced tariff rate of 7.5%, as well as 180,000 tonnes of poultry.
Minister for agriculture Martin Heydon on Wednesday said he is opposed to Ireland supporting the EU-Mercosur trade deal.
While earlier, Taoiseach Micheál Martin seemed to soften his stance stating "a lot of progress" has been made with Ireland securing significant concessions from the European Commission and added that were the deal passed despite the Government’s objections and those of their French counterparts, extra funding and safeguards for farmers would be sought.
But farmers are not buying it and their concerns about the standards of cheap beef coming into the EU were reinforced after confirmation that Brazilian beef containing banned hormones entered the Irish food chain earlier this year.
The Department of Agriculture confirmed it was notified by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland on December 12 that beef from animals treated with the banned growth-promoting hormone oestradiol was distributed to three food business operators in Ireland.
This will do little to allay the fears of farmers or of consumers.
The admission this week by Irish Rail that the extension of the Cork-Midleton rail corridor to Youghal was not going to happen, has come as a major blow to those campaigners who, for years, have been advocating for what is seen locally as a vital piece of infrastructure.
With the reopening of the Cork to Midleton line having been a huge success, it had been hoped throughout the whole East Cork area that the further extension of the railway through Mogeely and Killeagh and on to Youghal would be a formality.
But the revelation by Irish Rail’s Cork Commuter Rail project manager, AJ Cronin that there was “no plan, no policy, no funding and no project” to reinstate the Midleton-Youghal line, came as a huge shock locally.
His assertion that even if there was Government approval for such a project tomorrow morning, there would still be a 10-year development timescale and a €200m bill, seems to have put an end to any hopes it could come to fruition.
With locals living along the route of the rail corridor hoping that the reopening of the line would reduce traffic pressure on the Cork-Waterford road and incentivise developers to look more closely at new housing projects throughout East Cork and West Waterford, their worst fears have now been realised.
A new greenway has recently been completed along the Midleton-Youghal section of the old railway, but Mr Cronin said there was still room for a railway line to be accommodated, but the problem was that such a project was not part of Government policy.
He admitted that a rail line would enable both housing and employment growth throughout east Cork, but until the administration’s policy changed, he could not deliver it.
Government thinking on infrastructure development has been fine tuned in recent times, but this seems to be a glaring gap in the bigger picture.
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