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Mick Mulvaney spoke to BBC News NI after holding talks with Secretary of State Brandon Lewis at Hillsborough Castle on Sunday.
The US special envoy to Northern Ireland has said that he believes the UK and the EU can still reach a trade deal and has urged optimism on both sides.
Mick Mulvaney met with NI Secretary of State Brandon Lewis at Hillsborough Castle.
He arrived at NI on Sunday as part of a week-long visit to the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
It’s his first trip here since he was appointed a special envoy by President Trump in April.
This week begins the latest round of talks between the UK and the EU to reach a trade deal before the October 15 deadline set by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden has warned that he will not allow NI to become a “victim of Brexit” if elected in November.
But Mulvaney, President Trump’s former chief of staff, said the US government was “confident” that the UK and the EU would reach an agreement.
- US Special Envoy Praises NI’s Handling of Covid-19
Speaking to BBC News NI after conversations with the NI secretary, he said: “In general, politicians and politics tend to procrastinate to the last minute, but at the end of the day they can usually get things done. that work for everyone.
“Is it clean, is it efficient, does it look good? Probably not, but that’s politics.
“The attitude of my government is that we are confident that the EU and the UK will be able to solve this in a way that is acceptable to all.”
He also said that the United States government will continue to view NI “through the prism of the Good Friday Agreement.”
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Mulvaney was named a special envoy to Northern Ireland in April after being replaced as Donald Trump’s chief of staff.
When asked if he was concerned about the British government’s internal market bill, legislation that would nullify NI-related parts of the Brexit deal and violate international law, Mulvaney said it was a “fail-safe system.”
“It only comes into play if something else doesn’t happen, it has received the attention it deserves, but I don’t want my country to jump to conclusions, we have to look at it in a rational, calm and cold way,” he added.
On Sunday afternoon, Prime Minister Arlene Foster met with Mulvaney and the Secretary of Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis, at Hillsborough Castle.
Ms. Foster will meet again with Mr. Mulvaney later in the week and said she looked forward to “more positive discussions.”
Mr. Mulvaney will spend time in Dublin, where he will meet with the Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Micheál Martin, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney and Sinn Féin President Mary-Lou McDonald on Monday.
‘Calm the boat’
He will hold talks with Stormont’s top five parties in Belfast on Tuesday before heading to London later this week for more engagements.
The US official said he was pleased to be able to visit NI and “do good old-fashioned face-to-face diplomacy.
“I don’t know if I’m here to stabilize the boat, if I have a message it’s that things are fine when stable, and if I can be a reassuring influence that would be great,” he said.
Mulvaney added that he wanted to focus some of his conversations on Northern Ireland’s “economic development potential” in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
He also praised the NI Executive’s handling of the first wave of the virus, but said he was concerned about the recent surge in cases.
“I don’t think it will change the message, the message is that it has been useful for me to use the way the decentralized government has handled Covid-19 well, why it is a good place to do business,” he added.
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