Social call as Trump & Leo meet

TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar is in the US for the annual meeting with the US President on St Patrick’s Day.

There were some objections from Dail members who suggested the Taoiseach should not attend but given the strong history between the two countries, the important trade ties and the thousands of undocumented Irish in the US that was never a real possibility.

The trip will be a welcome break for the Taoiseach who has been caught up in an ongoing saga involving his Strategic Communications Unit in recent weeks.

The Taoiseach doesn’t agree with lots of Trump’s policies and has pledged to raise issues around LGBT rights, trade and migration.

Given Trump’s planned introduction of tariffs on Europe the meeting comes at an important time, with Varadkar sternly saying that “trade goes both ways” in advance of his trip.

Behind the scenes there is likely to be stern words exchanged, with Trump previously announcing his intentions to lure large American multinational companies – like Google and Facebook – back to the US.

Before jetting off to the States the Taoiseach took to Twitter to tell his followers of all the good work he and the government have been doing, and signed off his tweet with “just sayin”.

The two leaders are both social media lovers and if the meeting goes well, who knows, they may even follow each other on Twitter.