Trump welcomes Irish leader to D.C. even as he expresses vexation at Ireland's taxation

March 12 (UPI) -- On Wednesday afternoon, President Donald Trump accused Ireland of taking U.S companies via taxation. Later in the day, though, in a friendlier exchange, he accepted a shamrock bowl from Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin at the White House.

Martin is Ireland's taoiseach, a version of a prime minister and leader of the Irish government. He traveled to the United States ahead of Monday's St. Patrick's Day celebration.

The exchange of the bowl, which was adorned with imagery of the the two nations, is a longstanding tradition between the two nations.

Trump earlier accused Ireland of taking U.S companies via taxation during an hour-long meeting with Martin at the White House on Wednesday afternoon.

At Wednesday's meeting, Trump said Ireland "took pharmaceutical and other companies away through taxation" and said the United States would "take back what was stolen from it," the Irish Examiner reported.

Trump called prior U.S. leaders "stupid" for allowing multinational corporations to relocate to Ireland, though he said he respects Ireland's corporate taxation laws.

Those laws heavily favor establishing and operating corporations in Ireland, which is considered a tax haven for most all corporations and especially those that invest in research, development and innovation, according to Investopedia.

"The United States of America is going to take back a lot of what was stolen from it by other countries and by, frankly, incompetent U.S. leadership, grossly incompetent," Trump said.

"I gave you an example of Ireland," Trump said. "I would have never let that happen."

Trump told Martin he would have allowed pharmaceutical companies to relocate to Ireland from the United States but would have imposed a steep tariff on the firms' products.

"If you want to go to Ireland, I think that's great," Trump said. "But if you want to sell anything in the United States, I'm going to put a 200% tariff on you so you're never going to be able to sell anything in the United States."

Trump also said congressional Democrats need to "get with us and come up with good tax policy so that Ireland and other countries can't take our businesses away from us."

Trump told Martin he respects what Martin and Irish lawmakers have done and said he would not do anything to hurt Ireland.

"You've done a great job, but our people did a very bad job recently," Trump told Martin.

Martin called the relationship between Ireland and the United States a "two-way street."

"We are investing a lot more in America now," Martin said and cited Ryanair and aircraft leasing firm Aercap as the largest buyers of Boeing aircraft outside of the United States.

"It's a little known fact," Martin said. It doesn't turn up on different statistics."

Trump said he wants economic fairness between Ireland and the United States, which he said Martin understands.

Trump and Martin met in advance of St. Patrick's Day on Monday.

Vice President JD Vance also met with Martin for breakfast Wednesday morning in Washington, D.C.

Martin also spoke highly of the Trump administration's efforts regarding the war between Ukraine and Russia during the meeting. He said that "progress has clearly been made" as a result of an "unrelenting focus and effort" to secure peace.

He also said that the United States "has been a steadfast friend of Ireland for centuries". Vance returned the sentiment, noting the relationship between the two countries is "one of the great alliances and great friendships between nations."

The meeting between Trump and Martin focused primarily on Ireland's economy, which relies a great deal on American multinational companies.

The American Chamber of Commerce Ireland, or AmCham Ireland, reports that American companies directly employ 211,000 people in Ireland and indirectly affect 168,000 jobs, and that Ireland acts "as the gateway to Europe for U.S. companies."

Ireland is also the sixth-largest investor in the U.S., and there are currently 970 American companies in the country.

However, Ireland is part of the EU, which is imposing retaliatory tariffs of $26 billion worth of American goods next month, a move made after Trump put a 25% levy on all European steel and aluminum imports into the United States.

Martin earlier said his visit to the Oval Office will be used to make special mention of the "increasingly two-way trade and investment relationship," between the two nations.