Editorial: Another historic visit to Northern Ireland by a sitting American president

The News Letter has now reported on 11 British monarchs, all 57 prime ministers and all 46 US presidents. ​As the oldest English language daily newspaper in the world we have been covering big news at home and abroad since 1737.

It is remarkable that a sitting American president will fly into Belfast this evening, the fourth to do so since 1995. To put that in perspective, no sitting US president had visited a country as populous and influential as England prior to 1918, let alone one as small as Northern Ireland. It is important not to lose sight of that remarkable fact, lest we become blasé about the arrival of a White House incumbent. NI is fortunate indeed to have such access to American power and influence.

At the same time, however, this is an awkward visit. President Joe Biden has heralded a return to the more partisan approach of his Democratic Party towards Northern Ireland of showing greater sympathy to the demands of nationalist Ireland rather than those of unionists. His calls on the need to keep the Irish land border unfettered and on the need to uphold the disastrous first iteration of NI Protocol helped ensure that that internal trade frontier became permanent. The UK was repeatedly threatened with being denied a trade deal with the US if this did not happen. Mr Biden echoed other Irish Americans on the need to protect the Belfast Agreement, by which they meant a nationalist interpretation of that deal in which NI is a neutral place, halfway between the rest of the UK and the Irish Republic.

Having said all that, this visit is not as big as it was going to be. The best approach is for unionists to emphasise that they too will always welcome a US president to our shores. If it is true that Mr Biden is going to ‘prod’ the DUP then that party needs to outline calmly why it has taken the stance it has.