Bloomberg: Brexit Irish border fears spur warning on US-UK trade talks

31 January 2019

Prime Minister Theresa May’s efforts to renegotiate the terms of Britain’s exit from the European Union to alter how it would address the issue of the Irish border has drawn warnings from Washington that the push could jeopardize UK trade talks with the US.

In an interview with Bloomberg News, Representative Brendan Boyle, a Pennsylvania Democrat and member of the Friends of Ireland Caucus, said he and others in Congress were concerned Brexit would see the return of a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Such a move, Boyle said, would threaten the 1990s U.S.-brokered Good Friday Accord that brought an end to the conflict in Northern Ireland. “We see the Good Friday agreement clearly in jeopardy because of Brexit if that ends up inadvertently prompting a hard border,’’ he said.

It would also raise hackles in Congress and threaten support for a post-Brexit trade negotiation with the U.K., he added.

“It’s just a fact that if the U.K. reneges on its Good Friday commitments, it will have an impact on any future negotiation between the U.S. and U.K. It would be naïve to think otherwise,’’ Boyle said. [...]

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