Is Biden now ready for a UK trade pact?

THE White House fuelled speculation about a possible trade deal with the UK yesterday when it said Rishi Sunak’s agreement on Brexit would ‘open up avenues for trade’.

Talks on a post-Brexit deal have been on ice since Joe Biden took office two years ago.

The President has piled pressure on the UK and EU to fix the post-Brexit trading problems in Northern Ireland ahead of the 25 anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement in April. He welcomed the ‘Windsor Framework’ agreed on

Monday. In a statement, he said Northern Ireland could ‘accomplish the extraordinary when its leaders work together in common cause’.

Later, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby went further, telling reporters: ‘This will help improve the prosperity of both the EU and the UK, and will open up all kinds of new avenues for trade that were somewhat at risk.’

No 10 yesterday played down the prospect of a UK-US trade deal, saying that talks were focused on strengthening ties with individual US states.