NI protocol ‘always on the radar’ of US, says ambassador

The US will encourage the UK and the European Union to find a solution in post-Brexit talks that is "durable" and "maintains peace" in Northern Ireland, ambassador Katherine Tai, the US trade representative, said on Wednesday.

“I would expect that on our side, given the deep levels of interest that are here and the sense of investment in the legacy of the Good Friday [Belfast] Agreement, that what happens in these engagements between the UK and the EU will always be on the radar here and will be part of our awareness,” Ms Tai told a webinar organised by the Institute of International and European Affairs.

"Both the UK and the EU are very, very important strategic and economic partners of the United States and it will continue to be something that we will be tracking with interest," she said.

“Let me just reinforce our position in encouraging both sides, the UK and the EU, to work in good faith, and as tirelessly as I know people have been, to find that solution that will be durable and peaceful.”

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Talks between the British government and the EU will resume this week as the two sides seek to resolve the dispute over trading arrangements for the North.

UK foreign secretary Liz Truss has claimed that the Northern Ireland protocol agreed to by Westminster as part of the Brexit deal in 2019 is "not sustainable".

European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic, who will meet Ms Truss on Thursday, has in turn maintained there are limits to the UK's demands for reduced checks at the trade border in the Irish Sea if Northern Ireland is to remain within the single market for goods.

US-UK conversations

Ms Tai, who is a member of US president Joe Biden’s cabinet, also discussed transatlantic co-operation, the Trade and Technology Council (TTC) and the prospects for a US-UK trade deal.

She said the US’s approach to its trade talks with the UK, which stalled last year, was consistent with Mr Biden’s “build back better” economic recovery plan.

“With respect to the US and the UK, we’re approaching our trade relationship consistent with the way that we are approaching everyone, which is how can we enhance our connectivity and ensure that it is supportive of, and reinforcing of, building back better,” said Ms Tai.

She added that work with the UK is running in parallel with “the work that we are doing with the EU”.