Biden or Trump, No Guarantee of a Post-Brexit US-UK Trade Deal
U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden’s recent warning that Britain must honor Northern Ireland’s 1998 peace agreement to secure a U.S. trade deal adds new complexity to already tough trade talks between the United…
U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden’s recent warning that Britain must honor Northern Ireland’s 1998 peace agreement to secure a U.S. trade deal adds new complexity to already tough trade talks between the United States and the U.K.
“We can’t allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit,” Biden wrote on Twitter on Wednesday, referring to the deal that ended three decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland and created a shared regional government.
Biden was echoing Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s warning last week that any move by Britain to erect physical customs borders between British-ruled Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland meant “no chance” for a U.S.-UK trade deal.
His warning comes as U.S. negotiators in the Trump administration wrap up a fourth round of trade talks with their British counterparts in Washington this week. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday the talks could “reach a successful conclusion before too long.”
No matter how they end, U.S. law gives Congress authority over trade policy. President Donald Trump has sometimes sidestepped that authority on trade issues, but U.S. and UK officials have said they are aiming for a comprehensive agreement that would need Congress’s approval.
The U.S. election in November is expected to leave the House in Democratic hands, giving extra weight to Pelosi’s words.
Both the U.S. and U.K. have other hurdles to clear as well, trade experts say.
“Removing the Good Friday agreement is a non-starter, but there are five or six other potentially really difficult issues that the two countries are still far apart on,” said Harry Broadman, managing director with the Berkeley Research Group and a former senior U.S. trade official, including agriculture, the British health system and Britain’s proposed digital services tax.