Boris admits trade deal with US is long way off
BORIS Johnson has admitted to a major downgrading of his ambitions for post-Brexit ties with the United States, after conceding that Joe Biden is not negotiating free trade pacts.
After more than 90 minutes of talks with the US president in the White House on Tuesday, the Prime Minister conceded yesterday that he is currently looking to make only “incremental steps” to trading with the States.
Mr Johnson was obliged to discourage hopes that a comprehensive free trade agreement, touted as one of the major prizes of Brexit, will be brokered any time soon.
Speaking to reporters outside the US Capitol building in Washington, the Prime Minister said: “The Biden administration is not doing free trade deals around the world right now, but I’ve got absolutely every confidence that a great deal is there to be done, and there are plenty of people in that building behind me who certainly want a deal.”
Downing Street said that Mr Johnson updated the president on recent developments with the Northern Ireland Protocol during their meeting in the White House on Tuesday.
Mr Biden issued a fresh warning for the UK not to damage the peace process in Northern Ireland, in the wake of the European Union departure – and he did not counter the assertion from his predecessor, Barack Obama, that Britain would be at the “back of the queue” for a postBrexit free trade agreement.
Sitting next to Mr Johnson in the Oval Office, Mr Biden told reporters on Tuesday: “We’re going to talk a little bit about trade today and we’re going to have to work that through.”
Mr Biden said he felt “very strongly” about issues with the peace process, as problems with the protocol persisted. He added: “I would not at all like to see – nor, I might add, would many of my Republican colleagues like to see – a change in the Irish accords, the end result having a closed border in Ireland.”
Mr Johnson said “that’s absolutely right”, adding: “On that point, Joe, we’re completely at one, nobody wants to see anything that interrupts or unbalances the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.”
Downing Street said that the Prime Minister updated Mr Biden on developments with the protocol since they last met in June.
The White House said Mr Biden “reiterated his long-standing support for a secure and prosperous Northern Ireland in which all communities have a voice and enjoy the gains of the hard-won peace”.
The UK is seeking to renegotiate the terms of the Brexit deal with the EU. The protocol means Northern Ireland is effectively in the EU’s single market for goods, to avoid a hard border with the Republic of Ireland, which creates a trade barrier for products crossing the Irish Sea from Great Britain.
Downing Street has faced questions over whether Boris Johnson would have to endure extra coronavirus tests, after coming into contact with a positive case on his US trip.
Brazil’s health minister, Marcelo Queiroga, has confirmed that he has tested positive and is in isolation, only a day after being filmed shaking hands with the Prime Minister in New York on Monday.
Asked yesterday whether Mr Johnson had taken a Covid-19 test since Mr Queiroga’s result, a No 10 spokesman emphasised that the Prime Minister was fully vaccinated.