Tariff-ic Paddy's Day trips Stateside

Ministers to visit 11 US cities despite Don threats

- BY CIARA O'LOUGHLIN Political Correspondent

CELEBRATION Water in White House fountain dyed green for previous St Pat's

GOVERNMENT representatives will visit 11 US cities as part of its St Patrick’s Day programme to promote Ireland, despite tariff threats from Donald Trump.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin faced calls to drop the trip last year with Sinn Fein refusing to attend the White House in protest at the US administration's approach to Gaza.

Those calls have been amplified in the wake of the Trump's rescinded threat to take over Greenland and the anti-immigration crackdown in the Minneapolis and elsewhere in the US.

Yet the US will remain as the most visited country in the Government's St Patrick's programme.

All 15 ministers and 23 junior ministers will travel abroad when they will visit 50 countries including 11 cities in the US.