A lot of the same commentators who said nothing when President Trump directly and repeatedly criticized or undermined the UK government in office now seem horrified that President Biden reiterates long standing US policy about Northern Ireland and the Good Friday Agreement. 1/6
Biden is not intervening on behalf of the EU. He is simply making the point that the US supports the various agreements reached pertaining to NI, including the GFA and the protocol. 2/6
Worth noting that the Trump admin said something similar. The point is none of this is new and it is bipartisan. The Johnson government has also understood this for some time. independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi… 3/6
The UK's argument about how the protocol is being interpreted in Brussels is not helped by the perception that they just want to get out of it (as many MPs do). If they could convince Washington that they are credibly committed to making the protocol work they might find... 4/6
....the case on interpretation easier to make but that would require deft diplomacy, especially with Dublin. Finally, worth noting that the Biden admin has signaled that they are open to a trade deal even if the UK aligns with EU on agriculture regulations. 5/6
Trump had demanded divergence as a precondition. So in many ways, Biden is actually giving the UK more room here. He also seems generally committed to repairing the US-UK alliance after an particularly difficult few years. Bottom line this is a storm in a teacup. 6/6
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