Pelosi issues warning to Britain on post-Brexit trade deal

The UK has delayed the implementation of some provisions of the deal's Northern Ireland Protocol

Nancy Pelosi: 'Any destruction of the Good Friday accords are unlikely to have any UK-US bilateral agreement.'

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi cautioned Britain that there could be no post-Brexit trade deal with the United States if the Northern Ireland peace agreement was destroyed.

The United States has expressed grave concern that a row between London and Brussels over the implementation of the 2020 Brexit treaty could undermine the Good Friday accord.

"If there is destruction of the Good Friday accords, they [are] very unlikely to have a UK-US bilateral," she told a Chatham House event.

Since the United Kingdom left the European Union on January 1, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has unilaterally delayed the implementation of some provisions of the deal's Northern Ireland Protocol and his top negotiator has said the protocol is unsustainable.

The Northern Ireland Protocol aims to keep the province, which borders EU member Ireland, in both the United Kingdom's customs territory and the EU's single market.

The EU wants to protect its single market, but an effective border in the Irish Sea created by the protocol cuts off Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom - to the fury of unionists.

Instability and uncertainty

Last week, the EU rejected a British demand to renegotiate the Northern Ireland protocol, saying that to do so would only bring instability and uncertainty. Johnson's spokesman said there had been "some elements of progress".

"We still feel that there needs to be a full negotiation and that needs to begin seriously and begin soon because it mustn’t mean the EU coming up with its own planned solutions and presenting them as take it or leave it," the spokesperson said.

The European Commission is expected to outline by the end of September plans that could ease the movement of goods from Britain to Northern Ireland in an effort to ease tensions, EU diplomats said.

They said new ideas, which also include greater involvement of politicians and others in Northern Ireland, would be announced this month.

• Reuters