FILE PHOTO: Ryanair Chief Executive Officer Michael O'Leary looks on, as he speaks to the media ahead of the airline's Annual General Meeting, in Dublin, Ireland, September 11, 2025. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne/File Photo
U.S. President Donald Trump continues to double down on his push for Greenland to become part of the United States — an idea that Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen are adamantly opposed to. Trump hasn't ruled out the possibility of a U.S. military invasion of the Arctic island, and European leaders — from French President Emmanuel Macron to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer — are warning that U.S. aggression against Greenland risks destroying the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as Greenland is a territory of NATO member Denmark.
Trump's foreign and economic policies are drawing a great deal of scathing criticism in Europe. And some of it is coming from Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary, a native of the Republic of Ireland.
O'Leary is politically conservative, but in an interview with Politico published on January 14, the Ryanair CEO attacked a range of Trump policies.
The 64-year-old O'Leary told Politico, "I think Trump is historically wrong on Ukraine and on Russia. He's historically wrong on tariffs…. I don't have any faith or trust in Trump, who has proven himself to be again and again a liar."
The Ryanair CEO noted his conservative views on economics, telling Politico he would be "a natural Republican" if he lived in the United States and Trump wasn't leading the GOP.
Politico's Tommaso Lecca notes, " It's not the first time that O'Leary has lambasted Trump, making him a curio in the corporate world, which has been largely deferential to the U.S. president since he returned to office. However, O'Leary has long said that Ryanair has no intention of flying across the Atlantic. The airline is also one of Boeing's largest customers, insulating it from political blowback."
Read the full Politico interview at this link.