Biden warns UK on Brexit: No trade deal unless you respect Northern Irish peace deal

By Guy Faulconbridge and Elizabeth Piper

 

Democratic U.S. presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden answers a reporter's question after remarks about his plans to develop and distribute a safe coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine if elected president, during a campaign statement after being briefed by public health experts in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., September 16, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

 

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden warned the United Kingdom that it must honour the Northern Irish peace deal as it extracts itself from the European Union or there would be no U.S. trade deal.

 

"We can't allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit," Biden said in a tweet.

 

"Any trade deal between the U.S. and U.K. must be contingent upon respect for the Agreement and preventing the return of a hard border. Period."

 

Johnson unveiled legislation that would break parts of the Brexit divorce treaty relating to Northern Ireland, blaming the EU for putting a revolver on the table in trade talks and trying to divide up the United Kingdom.

 

He says the United Kingdom has to have the ability to break parts of the 2020 Brexit treaty he signed to uphold London's commitments under the 1998 peace deal which ended three decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland between pro-British Protestant unionists and Irish Catholic nationalists.

 

The EU says any breach of the Brexit treaty could sink trade talks, propel the United Kingdom towards a messy exit when it finally leaves informal membership at the end of the year and thus complicate the border between Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland.

 

NO DEAL?

 

The EU's Brexit negotiator told the bloc's 27 national envoys that he still hoped a trade deal with Britain was possible, stressing that the coming days would be decisive, three diplomatic sources told Reuters.

 

Michel Barnier addressed the gathering on Wednesday and the three sources either participated in the discussion behind closed doors or were briefed on its content.

 

"Barnier still believes a deal is possible though the next days are key," said one of the EU diplomatic sources.

 

Johnson told The Sun that the EU was being "abusive" to Britain and risking four decades of partnership.

 

He said the UK must "ring-fence" the Brexit deal "to put in watertight bulkheads that will stop friends and partners making abusive or extreme interpretations of the provisions."

 

Societe Generale analysts said on Thursday they now see an 80% chance that Britain and the EU will fail to strike a trade deal before the end of the year.

 

BIDEN

 

Biden, who has talked about the importance of his Irish heritage, retweeted a letter from Eliot Engel, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, to Johnson calling on the British leader to honour the 1998 Good Friday peace deal.

 

Engel urged Johnson to "abandon any and all legally questionable and unfair efforts to flout the Northern Ireland protocol of the Withdrawal Agreement."

 

He called on Johnson to "ensure that Brexit negotiations do not undermine the decades of progress to bring peace to Northern Ireland and future options for the bilateral relationship between our two countries."

 

Engel said Congress would not support a free trade agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom if Britain failed to uphold its commitments with Northern Ireland.

The letter was signed by Representatives Richard Neal, William Keating and Peter King.

 

Johnson is pushing ahead with his plan.

 

His government reached a deal on Wednesday to avert a rebellion in his own party, giving parliament a say over the use of post-Brexit powers within its proposed Internal Market Bill that breaks international law.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-09-17

 

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he hasn't been elected yet, but butting his nose into another countries business

Brexit Britain’s debut onto the world stage preceded by a self harming disregard for international law and a reminder that the ‘special relationship’ is a figment of British imagination. 

Edited September 17, 20205 yr by Chomper Higgot

7 minutes ago, steve187 said:

he hasn't been elected yet, but butting his nose into another countries business

His party, the Democrats, control Congress, and it is Congress who hold the Constitutional authority to enact trade deals.

 

The United States has already demanded and been granted a U-Turn on UK plans to tax online businesses - ie is dictating the bounds of U.K. tax laws. I suggest Brexiteers learn to like it.

 

 

 

Edited September 17, 20205 yr by Chomper Higgot

Ironically, the UK libs never wanted any deals with America, unless they were just postering and not wanting to break bread with Trump. 

 

So Biden’s veiled threats from the basement won’t rattle feathers on either side of Britains parliament.

 

Lets not forget,

Britain was at the “back of the queue” already,

long before this situation.

 

Edited September 17, 20205 yr by twocatsmac

35 minutes ago, steve187 said:

he hasn't been elected yet, but butting his nose into another countries business

trump doesn't?

30 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

His party, the Democrats, control Congress, and it is Congress who hold the Constitutional authority to enact trade deals.

 

The United States has already demanded and been granted a U-Turn on UK plans to tax online businesses - ie is dictating the bounds of U.K. tax laws. I suggest Brexiteers learn to like it.

 

 

 

Exactly, goes to show the nonsense of Brexit claims of sovereignty - no country can be an island unto itself.

2 hours ago, steve187 said:

he hasn't been elected yet, but butting his nose into another countries business

 

Mexico will pay for it - ah, those were the days.

2 hours ago, steve187 said:

he hasn't been elected yet, but butting his nose into another countries business

So you think he should say nothing, and once (hopefully) elected come out and say 'oh btw, that law you just enacted will prevent a trade deal with the US'.

3 hours ago, steve187 said:

he hasn't been elected yet, but butting his nose into another countries business

He is not going to be either, so is irrelevant. 

41 minutes ago, PattayaJames said:

He is not going to be either, so is irrelevant. 

Orange tinted crystal ball stuff.

4 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

His party, the Democrats, control Congress, and it is Congress who hold the Constitutional authority to enact trade deals.

 

The United States has already demanded and been granted a U-Turn on UK plans to tax online businesses - ie is dictating the bounds of U.K. tax laws. I suggest Brexiteers learn to like it.

 

 

 

Brexit will mean FRINO to a large extent!

4 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Brexit Britain’s debut onto the world stage preceded by a self harming disregard for international law and a reminder that the ‘special relationship’ is a figment of British imagination. 

Its not uncommon for such laws to be changed. The Germans have done it twice recently.

So Johnson isn't gone get a trade deal with the US, and he already wasted his chances to get one with China and the EU, so who is he gone get a deal with?

 

New Guinea????

6 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

His party, the Democrats, control Congress, and it is Congress who hold the Constitutional authority to enact trade deals.

 

The United States has already demanded and been granted a U-Turn on UK plans to tax online businesses - ie is dictating the bounds of U.K. tax laws. I suggest Brexiteers learn to like it.

 

 

 

To be absolutely accurate, they control one of the 2 houses of Congress, the House of Representatives. But that is enough to stymie the passage of any trade bill.

The thing is, trade is already very free between the UK and the USA. Tariffs are low and there aren't a lot of obstacles. That's why the UK government itself predicts not much benefit from a trade deal between the 2 nations.

This is the topic to bring together the Remainer/Brexiteer gumph with the Trump/ liberal gumph.  Get your popcorn ready all interested observers.

As an Irishman, I have zero problem with the British determining their own future. We will figure out the Northern Ireland stuff later.

It is bad that Ireland is being used as a stick to hit Britain with, just as it was a mistake for our previous Taoiseach (Prime Minister) to be so smug about Britain's difficulties. That was terrific for his future prospects, guaranteeing him prestigious and highly-paid EU positions for the rest of his life, but it tainted our generally very good relationship with our closest neighbor and trading partner.

The Brexit stuff will work out. After all the fuss, the EU and the UK will eventually come to some sort of arrangement. In the meantime, the Irish should trust that the British will act in good faith. We have come a long way together.

 

7 hours ago, Nout said:

Its not uncommon for such laws to be changed. The Germans have done it twice recently.

Which treaties have the Germans changed recently?

12 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

His party, the Democrats, control Congress, and it is Congress who hold the Constitutional authority to enact trade deals.

Um, no, they hold the lower house, not the entire congress. 

14 minutes ago, Mama Noodle said:

Um, no, they hold the lower house, not the entire congress. 

As I already pointed out, functionally it makes no difference. Can't pass a trade agreement without the bill passing in the House.

8 hours ago, Susco said:

So Johnson isn't gone get a trade deal with the US, and he already wasted his chances to get one with China and the EU, so who is he gone get a deal with?

 

New Guinea????

for starters-

 

"The UK has today secured a free trade agreement with Japan, which is the UK’s first major trade deal as an independent trading nation."

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-and-japan-agree-historic-free-trade-agreement

 

 

Just now, nakornpingpong said:

As I already pointed out, functionally it makes no difference. Can't pass a trade agreement without the bill passing in the House.

And they can’t pass a trade agreement without it passing in the senate as well, so by that same logic the republicans hold the congress. 

2 minutes ago, Mama Noodle said:

And they can’t pass a trade agreement without it passing in the senate as well, so by that same logic the republicans hold the congress. 

But there's been no sign that the Republicans would oppose such an agreement and no reason to think that they would. So what's your point?

1 minute ago, nakornpingpong said:

But there's been no sign that the Republicans would oppose such an agreement and no reason to think that they would. So what's your point?

Point is that the Democrats do not hold the congress. It’s not hard. 

How about putting your own house in order Mr Boden, before poking your nose into another nations business?

 

Perhaps you have your eye on the "Irish American" vote?

 

Many people in the UK find, for example, the practice of summarily executing black people who resist arrest worthy of comment. But we don't expect our politicians to mention it, with implicit threats, when campaigning!

5 hours ago, Poet said:

As an Irishman, I have zero problem with the British determining their own future. We will figure out the Northern Ireland stuff later.

It is bad that Ireland is being used as a stick to hit Britain with, just as it was a mistake for our previous Taoiseach (Prime Minister) to be so smug about Britain's difficulties. That was terrific for his future prospects, guaranteeing him prestigious and highly-paid EU positions for the rest of his life, but it tainted our generally very good relationship with our closest neighbor and trading partner.

The Brexit stuff will work out. After all the fuss, the EU and the UK will eventually come to some sort of arrangement. In the meantime, the Irish should trust that the British will act in good faith. We have come a long way together.

 

Right. Varadkar is the dishonest one and Johnson is an honorable man.

13 hours ago, steve187 said:

he hasn't been elected yet, but butting his nose into another countries business

And he most likely wont be elected, so no need to be concerned.

Well at least he has a plan not like trump who is turn the US into bizarre world Trump has no plan for Health Care even though he’s promised it from day one he had no plan for the virus he just thinks of himself does not protect United States citizens or the country

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Biden warns UK

Bi..who??