Biden says UK border with Ireland must be open

[webfact]

Biden says UK border with Ireland must be open

 

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden speaks to the media as he departs from his transition headquarters in the Queen Theater in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., November 24, 2020. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

 

(Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Joe Biden said on Tuesday he did not want to see a guarded border between Ireland and the United Kingdom, adding that he had previously discussed the matter with the British and Irish prime ministers and other European leaders.

 

Biden had stressed the importance of protecting Northern Ireland's peace deal in the Brexit process in a call with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson earlier in the month, after Biden won the Nov. 3 U.S. election against President Donald Trump.

 

Johnson's government is seeking a trade deal with the European Union but says it is willing to leave without one. That could complicate the situation at the sensitive Northern Irish border with Ireland - the UK's only land border with the EU.

 

Biden told journalists in Wilmington, Delaware, that the border must be open.

 

"We do not want a guarded border," he said, answering a question from a reporter on what he would say to Brexit negotiators.

 

The 1998 Good Friday peace deal that effectively ended Northern Ireland's 30 years of sectarian violence created institutions for cross-border cooperation on the island of Ireland.

 

Johnson put forward legislation in September that would break the Northern Ireland protocol of the Brexit divorce treaty that seeks to avoid a physical customs border between the British province and EU-member Ireland.

 

Biden, who has talked about the importance of his Irish heritage, warned months ago as the Democratic candidate for the presidency that the UK must honor the 1998 agreement as it withdraws from the bloc or there can be no separate U.S. trade deal.

 

Johnson has never met Biden and commentators have suggested the prime minister will have to work hard to foster the "special relationship" between the historic allies.

 

Ireland's prime minister said on Monday he hoped the outline of a Brexit free-trade deal would emerge by the end of this week, despite what the EU negotiator called "fundamental divergences" at talks.

 

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Writing by Michael Martina; Editing by Chris Reese)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-11-25

 

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[Chomper Higgot]

“ the UK must honor the 1998 agreement as it withdraws from the bloc or there can be no separate U.S. trade deal.”

 

The reason for all the UK’s foot dragging is now made clear, the US election is settled and Biden has given Johnson a clear statement on the new political reality.

 

 

[vogie]

I don't want to see a border between the US and Mexico but it has got nothing what so-ever to do with me, and just because the President Elect has 1 ounce of Irish blood in him, Ireland has zippo to do with him.

Edited November 25, 2020 by vogie

[Chomper Higgot]

2 minutes ago, vogie said:

I don't want to see a border between the US and Mexico but it has got nothing what so-ever to do with me, and just because the President Elect has 1 ounce of Irish blood in him, Ireland has zippo to do with him.

Well OK, another piece of political reality you wish to deny the existence of.

 

Biden has made his statement on the mater, and while you might want to wish it away, Johnson will be paying attention  - or at least which ever adult is nursing him these days will be listening.

 

The UK has chosen to be alone in the world, it will do as it is told.

[stevenl]

5 minutes ago, vogie said:

I don't want to see a border between the US and Mexico but it has got nothing what so-ever to do with me, and just because the President Elect has 1 ounce of Irish blood in him, Ireland has zippo to do with him.

He is answering a question from a journalist.

 

The main issue is, how about the trade deal with the US?

[Rookiescot]

So we cant have a border in Ireland and we cant have a border in the Irish sea.

Only solution is to remain in the EU's single market.

Ergo Johnson will have to accept all the EU's demands for allowing access. 

Will that include freedom of movement?

[JonnyF]

Biden pretending to be Irish again.

 

He should mind his own business. He has enough domestic problems without sticking his nose into other people's affairs. 

[robblok]

8 minutes ago, vogie said:

I don't want to see a border between the US and Mexico but it has got nothing what so-ever to do with me, and just because the President Elect has 1 ounce of Irish blood in him, Ireland has zippo to do with him.

The difference is that you unlike Biden don't have the power of the US behind you. Maybe its time to admit that the UK is not in a really strong negotiation position. This undermines it even further. If the UK does not obey then unfavorable deals with the US could follow.

 

Poor Brexiteers its getting harder and harder to deny that they are the one in the weak position and not the EU. 

[JonnyF]

3 minutes ago, Rookiescot said:

So we cant have a border in Ireland and we cant have a border in the Irish sea.

Because Biden says so? Don't make me laugh. 

[robblok]

4 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Well OK, another piece of political reality you wish to deny the existence of.

 

Biden has made his statement on the mater, and while you might want to wish it away, Johnson will be paying attention  - or at least which ever adult is nursing him these days will be listening.

 

The UK has chosen to be alone in the world, it will do as it is told.

Its so strange that Brexiteers don't get it their position is getting weaker and weaker and instead of the independence they sought they get bullied around by the more powerful countries. Its time for them to wake up and realize they have left the EU only to NOT regain power but to be told what to do by others again. 

[vogie]

1 minute ago, stevenl said:

He is answering a question from a journalist.

 

The main issue is, how about the trade deal with the US?

Ah, are you saying that if we don't allow Joe Biden to interfere into another countrys business we won't get a trade deal, there's a word for that.

[JonnyF]

3 minutes ago, robblok said:

If the UK does not obey then unfavorable deals with the US could follow.

Like EU US relations you mean?

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-54877337

 

[Chomper Higgot]

1 minute ago, vogie said:

Ah, are you saying that if we don't allow Joe Biden to interfere into another countrys business we won't get a trade deal, there's a word for that.

The word is ‘realpolitik’.

[CorpusChristie]

3 minutes ago, Rookiescot said:

So we cant have a border in Ireland and we cant have a border in the Irish sea.

Only solution is to remain in the EU's single market.

Ergo Johnson will have to accept all the EU's demands for allowing access. 

Will that include freedom of movement?

 

  We dont have to do what Biden says , we are an independent Country and the USA do not Govern us 

[vogie]

2 minutes ago, robblok said:

The difference is that you unlike Biden don't have the power of the US behind you. Maybe its time to admit that the UK is not in a really strong negotiation position. This undermines it even further. If the UK does not obey then unfavorable deals with the US could follow.

 

Poor Brexiteers its getting harder and harder to deny that they are the one in the weak position and not the EU. 

Whatever position the UK is in, blackmail is not the answer.

[Chomper Higgot]

1 minute ago, JonnyF said:

Like EU US relations you mean?

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-54877337

 

Wandering off topic again.

[Chomper Higgot]

1 minute ago, vogie said:

Whatever position the UK is in, blackmail is not the answer.

Erm, like ‘give us everything we want or we will walk away’?!

[Rookiescot]

4 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

Because Biden says so? Don't make me laugh. 

 

Yeah I mean who cares what Biden says eh? Hes only the most powerful man on the planet after all.

 

[vogie]

Just now, Chomper Higgot said:

Erm, like ‘give us everything we want or we will walk away’?!

Wandering off topic again?

[stevenl]

5 minutes ago, vogie said:

Ah, are you saying that if we don't allow Joe Biden to interfere into another countrys business we won't get a trade deal, there's a word for that.

Yes, negotiating.

[Curt1591]

17 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

The UK has chosen to be alone in the world, it will do as it is told.

 

Be on your own / Do as you're told.
Which is it? 

[JonnyF]

5 minutes ago, Rookiescot said:

 

Yeah I mean who cares what Biden says eh? Hes only the most powerful man on the planet after all.

 

 

You talk as though you've been subjugated so long that you'll take orders from anyone now, even someone who isn't yet the leader of a country that makes thinly veiled economic threats. That ingrained deference will come in handy when Scotland joins the EU.

 

The UK on the other hand doesn't take orders from the US, we don't take orders from the EU and we don't respond well to blackmail.

[Chomper Higgot]

6 minutes ago, Curt1591 said:

 

Be on your own / Do as you're told.
Which is it? 

Both.

 

[CorpusChristie]

25 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

 

 

The UK has chosen to be alone in the world, it will do as it is told.

 

   Nope, before we were in the E.U. and we got told what to do by them , now we are independent , we can make our own decisions  

[robblok]

21 minutes ago, vogie said:

Ah, are you saying that if we don't allow Joe Biden to interfere into another countrys business we won't get a trade deal, there's a word for that.

Yes its called politics.

[vogie]

Just now, robblok said:

Yes its called politics.

Where I come from, it's called interference.

[placeholder]

23 minutes ago, vogie said:

Ah, are you saying that if we don't allow Joe Biden to interfere into another countrys business we won't get a trade deal, there's a word for that.

The thing is, it's the UK that is (was?) eager for the deal. So that means any position taken by the UK regarding international issues becomes fair game. I didn't see much in the way of protests from you and your fellow Brexiters when Trump supported Brexit. Hypocrite much?

[robblok]

1 minute ago, vogie said:

Where I come from, it's called interference.

That is what politics are and better get used to it that the UK is now getting pushed and shoved around. So great to leave the EU only to be pushed by others. Its amazing that Brexiteers still don't see it. Probably they are like Trump supporters oblivious to facts. 

[placeholder]

25 minutes ago, vogie said:

Whatever position the UK is in, blackmail is not the answer.

Why is it blackmail? The UK is not obliged to seek a trade agreement with the US. Was Trump blackmailing the EU when he supported Brexit?

[vogie]

4 minutes ago, placeholder said:

The thing is, it's the UK that is (was?) eager for the deal. So that means any position taken by the UK regarding international issues becomes fair game. I didn't see much in the way of protests from you and your fellow Brexiters when Trump supported Brexit. Hypocrite much?

What we did see and read on here not so long ago is how much the remainers hated the USA, so I will commend you all  very highly for suddenly becoming Americanphiles overnight, what a transformation that was, so well done you.

Edited November 25, 2020 by vogie