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US presidential candidate Joe Biden has weighed in on the controversy over the UK’s new Brexit bill, warning of its implications for a future trade deal between the UK and the US.
The Democratic challenger added to concerns among senior US politicians that changes associated with the Internal Market Act will undermine the Good Friday Agreement.
Biden tweeted: “We cannot allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a victim of Brexit.”
“Any trade agreement between the US and the UK must be contingent on respecting the agreement and preventing the return of a firm border. Period.”
The intervention came after an uncomfortable day of diplomacy in Washington DC for UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.
A trade deal between the UK and the US was prominent in his engagement journal in the US capital, but so was Brexit, international agreements, and breaking the law.
His day started off quite positively.
“We trust the UK, I’m sure they will do well,” said host Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, describing the ‘special relationship’ as “stronger than ever”.
They were words of welcome, no doubt, amid the diplomatic warmth of a morning audience at the US State Department. An evening chill provided a contrast.
The UK Foreign Secretary attended a scheduled meeting with Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives, who had already expressed disbelief at the UK’s actions on Brexit, stating that she could rule out a free agreement trade between the United Kingdom and the United States.
Your opinions matter. Any trade deal between the United Kingdom and the United States would need Democratic votes to pass in Congress.
Spokesperson Pelosi repeated her warning to Mr. Raab in their face-to-face meeting.
In a later statement, he said: “If the UK violates its international agreements and Brexit undermines the Good Friday deal, there will be absolutely no chance that a US-UK trade deal will be approved by Congress.”
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It is clear that the American political establishment has its own reading of events and has other influential voices in its ear, including the Irish lobby in the United States.
In his State Department press conference, Raab insisted that the threat to the Good Friday Agreement came from the “politicization” of the issue by the EU.
In his meeting with President Pelosi, he tried to assure her that the UK government would not undermine the Good Friday Agreement and would never erect a firm border in Northern Ireland.
UK officials say the problem will not be solved in the United States, but at the table with the European Union.
However, their Brexit journey will bring them back across the Atlantic soon enough. How the negotiations with the EU play out will determine how difficult it is to sell in the US.
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