US president Donald Trump may have been Britain-baiting with his remarks about how he “would love to see” a united Ireland, but that doesn’t make it any less consequential.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin is right that some of the reaction was an overreaction. Trump has an interest in goading Britain, which didn’t support him in Iran. Andy Burnham’s government is already a target in a Maga culture war. But in politics, statements are facts. The US president could later have walked it back, but he didn’t; instead, he doubled down.

Martin deserves credit for having successfully navigated Trump again – avoiding disaster this weekend was a significant achievement. The US president enjoyed showboating on his golf course and showcasing himself to an audience back home. Of the winners from last week, Shane Lowry, Trump and Martin emerged at the top of the leaderboard. We can now toast their success with tariff-free Irish whiskey.

The American-Irish economic model, which yields outsize benefits here in corporation tax, is intact, and temporarily a little more secure. Defence, neutrality, Gaza and human rights may be important issues, but it is clear that our primary concern is securing even more money for us. That may be a shame, but it would be a bigger one not to notice the plank in our own eye because we are too busy looking at the specks in others.

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