‘I’ll probably be able to settle’ Falklands dispute, says Donald Trump
The US president called the rising regional tensions a 'potential disaster'
President Donald Trump has told reporters that he believes he could settle the Falklands dispute between the UK and Argentina.
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Speaking to the press alongside Taoiseach Micheál Martin on the first day of his two-day visit to Ireland, the US president said “here we go again,” in reference to rising Falklands tensions.
Mr Trump proceeded to say that he has doubts over whether the UK will be able to defend the Falklands from Argentina in the same way that it did in 1982.
“I don’t know if [the UK is] going to be willing to travel that far,” said the president. “That is very far away. You’re talking about weeks by boat. I don’t know.”
Mr Trump said the UK might not be willing to “travel that far” given existing domestic problems.
“They have a little problem with immigration. They have a little problem with energy and then have some other problems they have to take care of,” said the president.
The president then said: “I’m sure I’ll be called into that potential disaster, but if they do, I’ll probably be able to settle, settle it out.
“But right now, you have two countries that are not happy concerning the Falklands.”
Tensions were reignited over the Falklands when Argentinian President Javier Milei placed sanctions on companies exploring for oil around the islands, known as Las Malvinas in Argentina.
Milei, who is an ideological ally of Trump, has also said he does not accept the result of the 2013 referendum in which 99.8% of Falklands residents said they wanted to remain British.
Milei reiterated his country’s claim to the Falklands in a national televised address, saying the islands “are our future”.
In the Commons on Wednesday, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the UK would be “relentless” in defending the Falkland Islanders’ right to be British.
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said in a post on X on September 4: “The UK’s position on the Falkland Islands is unwavering. The Islands are British and will remain so because that is the overwhelming position of the Islanders.”
Describing the initial conflict, President Trump said: “I remember as a young boy, a pretty young boy anyway, but the Falkland Islands, and I think it was a different country at that time, the UK a little bit, but they went in and they took it over.”
The Falklands War broke out on April 2, 1982, making Donald Trump 35-years-old at the time of the conflict.