irishpolitics.ie

Ireland and the United Kingdom share the closest relationship of any two states in Europe — a common land border, a free-travel zone that predates both countries' EU membership, and a peace process that both governments co-guarantee. Brexit strained that relationship more than any event since partition, but the Common Travel Area and the Good Friday Agreement have held.

The United States is Ireland's single most important economic partner: American multinationals anchor the Irish economy, and Irish investment in the US supports hundreds of thousands of American jobs in return. The relationship also runs through the White House's St Patrick's Day tradition and a diaspora tens of millions strong — but 2025's US tariffs on the EU exposed how exposed Ireland is to shifts in American trade policy.