Ireland’s ambassador to the U.S., Geraldine Byrne Nason, touched down yesterday in St. Louis for a whirlwind three days in Missouri—a trip just a wee bit shorter than intended due to a delayed landing at St. Louis Lambert International Airport.
“It’s my ‘maiden voyage,’ so I wanted to pack in as much as I could,” Nason told St. Louis Magazine of her first trip to Missouri, squeezing in a brief phone call just after lunch with a local delegation of the American Irish State Legislators Caucus, led by state Rep. Bridget Walsh Moore (D-St. Louis County). “I’m covering a lot of ground in a short time.”
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Nason was set to meet with Gov. Mike Kehoe yesterday and St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer and Comptroller Donna Baringer today, along with appearances at an event hosted by the World Trade Center St. Louis and the Global Health Innovation Summit organized by BioSTL, which features several Irish companies that have collaborated with BioSTL. She’ll also visit the University of Missouri-St. Louis, which has a thriving Irish Studies program.
Nason said she was eager to promote the ties between Ireland and Missouri. “Our economies are not dissimilar,” she notes. “Agri-food, agri-tech.”
Why It Matters: St. Louis isn’t just home to a large number of people of Irish descent. Nason stresses Missouri is also a key trading partner for Ireland, which has become a global dynamo and an essential entry point to the European Union for many American companies, especially in the wake of Brexit. “There’s no reason Missouri companies shouldn’t be looking to come in and set up a base in Ireland from which they can then comfortably develop their business or also sell into Europe tariff-free,” she says.
The relationship works both ways; about 20 Irish companies have a presence in Missouri, Nason said, providing approximately 4,000 jobs in the state. “We’re in every part of your economy,” she says.
Nason admitted that the situation had become more complicated as President Donald Trump slapped tariffs on E.U. products.
“The whole trade discussion has been challenging,” she said. “That’s no secret. Ireland is a very open free trade economy, one of the most open economies in the world. We depend on free trade. So we disagree that tariffs are a useful economic instrument.” Recognizing the administration’s perspective, however, she said Ireland is working hard to make sure negotiations have a positive outcome. She hopes to see Trump’s 15 percent tariffs modified for key Irish industries, such as agri-food, spirits and alcohol.
“That’s always been a zero for zero trade issue,” she noted of the two nations’ shared expertise in distilling and brewing. She added, “It’s not finished business. We continue to express our views.”
What’s Next: Nason heads to Kansas City this afternoon, where she’ll stay through Saturday. She insisted that, despite her busy agenda, she is squeezing in some fun, with trips to the Gateway Arch and the St. Louis Irish Arts Center to see some traditional Irish dancing. In Kansas City, she’ll also visit the Kansas City Irish Fest—proving you can take the diplomat out of Ireland, but you can’t keep her away from Irish music.
