Joe Biden is many things. And some days, above all, he’s Irish.
(Bloomberg) — Joe Biden is many things. And some days, above all, he’s Irish.
The American president is leaving for Ireland on Tuesday, kicking off a long-awaited return to his ancestral home. It’s an opportunity to celebrate a heritage he cites often and that has shaped his rise in politics before an expected 2024 reelection campaign.
“Growing up Irish American gave me the pride that spoke to both sides of the Atlantic, heart and soul that drew from the old and new,” Biden said last month.
His first stop is Belfast, Northern Ireland, where he will meet with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, as the White House grapples with a fresh diplomatic problem — the leak of allegedly classified Pentagon documents about the war in Ukraine and US spying. Biden then heads to the Republic of Ireland to visit Dublin and the counties of his ancestors.
Biden will mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, which largely brought about an end to decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland, and celebrate the recent Brexit deal intended to preserve that pact.
Here are five things to watch for:
Support for Brexit Deal
The Windsor Framework lifts a dark cloud from the presidential visit. The settlement, intended to ease the flow of goods to Northern Ireland from Great Britain, avoided the prospect of more Brexit turmoil that threatened to undo gains from years of peace.
Biden had waded into the dispute, warning he would oppose any pact that further divided Ireland.
But he also walked a fine line. Biden touted his Irish roots and pointedly raised the importance of the Good Friday Agreement to highlight the stakes and encourage a deal, even as he sought to reassure the UK of its close US ties.
Sunak will greet Biden as he steps off Air Force One, and the UK wants to use the visit to encourage more long-term investment in Northern Ireland.
British officials are expected to privately lobby American counterparts to reopen a dialogue on a prospective trade deal, Bloomberg reported last week. Sunak’s Conservative Party has long sold a US free-trade agreement as one of the biggest potential benefits of leaving the European Union. Discussions progressed under former President Donald Trump, before Biden took office and put them on ice.
Power-Sharing Elusive
Biden’s visit provides an opportunity to address another impasse.
The UK government failed to persuade the Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland to join the power-sharing body, meaning the regional government remains paralyzed on the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
Biden will speak with leaders of the five main Northern Irish political parties ahead of a speech at Ulster University on Wednesday, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Sunak, Biden and Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar hope to persuade the DUP to take its seats this week, though that outcome remains unlikely.
For about nine years, or almost 40% of its life, the devolved Stormont assembly has not been able to fully operate, so power-sharing — a pillar of the peace treaty to ensure that neither nationalists or unionists hold absolute power — has frequently proved unworkable.
Economic Subsidies
The US race to reshape global supply chains, and industrial policy, looms large over the visit.
The Biden administration has helped steer the drive for a global 15% minimum corporate tax rate, which Ireland signed on to in a show of solidarity, raising its own long-standing levy. The initiative, however, has stalled in the US, leaving its fate unclear.
The US expects the matter to come up and wants to recognize Ireland’s role in the effort, people familiar with the matter said.
Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, a grab-bag of tax and spending measures that include subsidies for green industries, has also stoked discord and spurred calls for Europe to adopt its own subsidy programs.
Varadkar last month warned against a “tit-for-tat” subsidy race.
Presidential Tradition
Biden will be the eighth sitting US president to visit Ireland. John F. Kennedy, whose eight great-grandparents all migrated to Boston during the devastating potato famine of the late 1840s, was the first, in 1963. His return just three generations removed from his ancestors’ passage by coffin ship represented both the embodiment of the American dream and Irish emigration.
The Irish government has stopped short of setting particular benchmarks for Biden’s visit.
The government looks forward to welcoming an Irish-American president, a spokesperson said. The visit, the spokesperson added, will mark the Good Friday anniversary and underscore the US commitment to the Northern Ireland peace process.
Varadkar told reporters that cyber security would likely be on the agenda, pointing out the many large US technology companies with a presence in Ireland.
Still, expectations are high and Biden could face pressure to take stances that outrun the official US position. Yet officials have downplayed friction, saying the trip was meant largely as a celebration.
Biden will also address the Irish Parliament on “US-Irish cooperation to advance democracy, peace, security and prosperity as well as the shared deep history between the United States and Ireland,” White House spokesman John Kirby said Monday.
Family Roots
Above all, the trip is a tribute to Biden’s family history as he prepares for another campaign. He will cap his tour with a speech at a cathedral in County Mayo, where one side of his family came from.
Biden leans heavily on his roots, routinely quoting Irish poets — not because he himself is Irish, but because they’re the best, he says.
“I often say: We Irish are the only people in the world who are nostalgic for the future,” Biden quipped last month at a St. Patrick’s Day event with Varadkar.
Biden, who was born in Pennsylvania but traces his great-great grandparents back to counties Mayo and Louth, visited as vice president in 2016.
“Northeast Pennsylvania will be written on my heart. But Ireland will be written on my soul,” he wrote before that trip.
–With assistance from Josh Wingrove and Peter O’Dwyer.
(Updates with plans to speak with N. Irish party leaders in 13th paragraph)
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