Ireland Woos Trump in St. Patrick’s Day Charm Offensive

Ireland’s Premier, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, will gift Donald Trump the traditional bowl of shamrock when he meets the US president for St. Patrick’s Day, part of a charm offensive as the nation seeks to safeguard an economic model built on US investment.

Ireland rakes in billions of euros in tax revenue every year from US multinationals like Apple Inc., Eli Lilly & Co. and Microsoft Corp, money that it can’t afford to lose.

Such is the scale of the payments that the government can run huge budget surpluses – more than €7 billion ($8.1 billion) last year ...