| Author (Person) | Lowe, Sam |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Centre for European Reform (CER) |
| Series Title | CER Insight |
| Publication Date | May 2021 |
| Content Type | Research Paper |
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Summary: Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, has called on the UK to “prioritise political and economic stability” in Northern Ireland. This remark was made in the context of the difficulties being experienced in Northern Ireland as a result of Brexit and the UK’s decision to erect a customs and regulatory border within its own territory, so as to avoid a border on the island of Ireland (as per the Withdrawal Agreement’s Northern Ireland protocol). But paradoxically, it is the UK’s hope for a trade agreement with the United States, and America’s demand that any trade agreement requires the UK to diverge from EU food hygiene (sanitary and phytosanitary, SPS) rules, that is making it more difficult for the UK to mitigate the disruption in Northern Ireland by aligning its SPS regime with the EU’s. Here, the US could create political space for the UK, to the benefit of Northern Ireland, by either publicly removing divergence on food hygiene as a precondition for a trade deal with the UK, or ruling out a trade deal with the UK in this presidential term (which would coincide with the Protocol’s consent vote in 2024), and thus opening the door to temporary EU-UK SPS alignment. |
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| Source Link |
Link to Main Source
https://www.cer.eu/insights/us-and-northern-ireland-protocol-time-walk-walk
Alternative sources
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| Subject Categories | Politics and International Relations, Trade |
| Subject Tags | Brexit |
| Keywords | Post-Brexit |
| Countries / Regions | Ireland, United Kingdom, United States |
| International Organisations | European Union [EU] |
