Thursday, March 24, 2022
Another blow to Brexit
Those Brexiteers who had boasted that doing a trade deal with the EU would be a piece of cake, only to find their optimism to be wildly misplaced, could at least comfort themselves with the idea that the USA was a willing trade partner.
Unfortunately, the contrived deal signed by Boris Johnson, and his subsequent attempts to deny all responsibility, while throwing Northern Ireland and Eire to the wolves, has backfired on them.
The Guardian reports that Richard Neal, the chairman of the ways and means committee in the United States Congress, has warned that a bilateral trade deal between the US and the UK is “desirable”, but will not progress while the Northern Ireland peace deal is being used for domestic political purposes:
Congressman Neal told the Guardian: “We will not entertain a trade agreement if there is any jeopardy to the Good Friday agreement.
“A bilateral trade agreement with the UK is desirable – there’s no question about that. I’m very open to that. But what I’m not open to is holding the Good Friday agreement hostage over domestic politics.”
Neal, who has taken a keen interest in Northern Ireland over the past three decades, is a key figure in US trade deals and negotiated the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
His committee writes trade bills and without its support a deal will not be approved.
In an exclusive interview from Washington, he denounced those who say the Brexit deal has killed the Good Friday agreement on the grounds that unionists did not consent to the arrangements negotiated with the EU.
“We are concerned that the protocol is being used to hold the Good Friday agreement hostage,” he said.
“The argument being applied by some is reckless and demagogic.”
Neal’s comments come a day after the US trade minister Katherine Tai dashed hopes of any imminent post-Brexit free-trade deal, saying an agreement was not worth spending “years and a lot of blood, sweat and tears” over.
Back to the drawing board then.
The Guardian reports that Richard Neal, the chairman of the ways and means committee in the United States Congress, has warned that a bilateral trade deal between the US and the UK is “desirable”, but will not progress while the Northern Ireland peace deal is being used for domestic political purposes:
Congressman Neal told the Guardian: “We will not entertain a trade agreement if there is any jeopardy to the Good Friday agreement.
“A bilateral trade agreement with the UK is desirable – there’s no question about that. I’m very open to that. But what I’m not open to is holding the Good Friday agreement hostage over domestic politics.”
Neal, who has taken a keen interest in Northern Ireland over the past three decades, is a key figure in US trade deals and negotiated the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
His committee writes trade bills and without its support a deal will not be approved.
In an exclusive interview from Washington, he denounced those who say the Brexit deal has killed the Good Friday agreement on the grounds that unionists did not consent to the arrangements negotiated with the EU.
“We are concerned that the protocol is being used to hold the Good Friday agreement hostage,” he said.
“The argument being applied by some is reckless and demagogic.”
Neal’s comments come a day after the US trade minister Katherine Tai dashed hopes of any imminent post-Brexit free-trade deal, saying an agreement was not worth spending “years and a lot of blood, sweat and tears” over.
Back to the drawing board then.
