In August 2025, a claim spread online that U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Ireland over its proposed trade boycott of Israeli settlements in
Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland Simon Harris introduced legislation in June to ban trade with the occupied Palestinian territories in relation to what he called Israel's "genocidal activity."
In response to Harris' announcement, numerous social media users on X, Facebook and Threads claimed that Trump said Ireland will "bear consequences" if it tries to economically isolate Israel. While other posts stated that the "United States," not Trump specifically, warned Ireland of said consequences, these posts often included a picture of the U.S. president, which may have contributed to numerous Snopes readers searching the website for information on Trump "threatening" Ireland.
However, Trump has not publicly said that Ireland would "bear consequences" if it chose to boycott Israel. Instead, this claim appeared to originate from a letter signed by 16 U.S. House Republicans — led by Rep. Claudia Tenney, a Republican from New York — calling on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to investigate whether Ireland's proposed boycott violates U.S. anti-boycott law.
In the second-to-last paragraph, the Aug. 7 letter used similar language to the social media posts. It read: "The United States must send a clear signal that efforts to economically isolate Israel will carry consequences, and that U.S. law designed to combat such discrimination will be enforced."
As such, we have rated this claim as incorrectly attributed to Trump. The White House did not immediately return an inquiry into whether the Trump administration was planning to take any action in response to Ireland's proposed boycott.
A Google search for "Trump Ireland 'bear consequences'" returned only social media results. That search produced no evidence of reputable news media outlets in either the United States or Ireland reporting on Trump producing the quote. If the U.S. president had issued a threat such as this against Ireland, an ally of the United States, it would certainly have been covered.
The earliest version of this quote appeared to come from Middle East Monitor, a news outlet largely focused on Israel's war in Gaza. The Monitor published (archived) the aforementioned quote alongside a picture of Trump on Aug. 9 on its social media platforms but provided no actual attribution for the quote in the written text of its post, which may have sparked confusion over who said it. One of the posts featuring a photo of Trump had the following caption:
US THREATENS IRELAND OVER BOYCOTT OF ISRAEL:
"If you try to economically isolate Israel, you will bear consequences"
U.S. Congress urges Treasury Secretary Bessent to investigate Ireland's proposed boycott of Israel:
"The United States must send a clear signal that efforts to economically isolate Israel will carry consequences."
This comes after US cities and states were threatened by the Trump administration that they would not receive federal aid if they boycotted Israel.
It is also worth noting that the Monitor attributed the second quote in its post to the "U.S. Congress," when, in fact, the quote came from Tenney's letter — it did not come from an official resolution or law passed by Congress. Thus, the assertion that Congress in its majority or entirety urged Bessent to investigate Ireland's proposed boycott of Israel was also incorrect. Snopes reached out to the Monitor for more information regarding the social media post and the origin of the "bear consequences" quote. We await the outlet's response.
Additionally, if a country requires businesses or individuals to participate in an international boycott that is not sanctioned by the United States, federal law requires the Treasury Department to put those countries on a list. U.S.-based entities that do business with countries on the list face specific tax reporting requirements and possible penalties.
The third-to-last paragraph of Tenney's letter called on the Treasury to consider whether Ireland should be added to the boycott list if its proposal to sanction Israeli settlements becomes law.