‘No US-UK deal. PERIOD’ – Biden ally channels his Irish roots and slams UK’s Internal Market Bill

A Democrat Congressman has warned Britain’s PM Boris Johnson that there will be no trade deal between a Biden administration and the UK if Westminster pushes ahead with its Internal Market Bill.

Pennsylvania Representative Brendan Boyle told the UK’s Channel 4 News that the Democrats would rule out a trade deal between the US and the UK if Boris Johnson’s government implements the controversial Internal Market Bill. 

If the UK moves forwards with this Internal Market Bill and decides to whip up the withdrawal agreement they negotiated and signed less than a year ago, then there will be no US-UK trade deal… Period.

Boyle, who is of Irish decent, stated that President-elect, Joe Biden, wanted the UK to extract itself from the European Union in a way that would not impact the Good Friday Agreement, adding that the Internal Market Bill is “a clear red line for us, for President-elect Biden and Speaker Pelosi.” 

Biden and the Democrats have been very clear in their demands for the UK not to renege on the 2019 Northern Ireland Protocol, which aimed to prevent the creation of a hard border on the island of Ireland when Britain transitions out of the EU on December 31. The Internal Market Bill aims to ensure Northern Ireland remains in a customs union with the rest of the UK, potentially meaning a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. 

As such, the prospect of a trade deal between the UK and US appears greatly reduced under a Biden administration. President Trump, a son of a Scottish born housewife, had talked up the chances of a deal between the age-old allies. 

Prominent British politician, Nigel Farage, said on Saturday that the UK has missed its chance to do a deal with the pro-UK Trump. Farage tweeted “As you can see from this clip, Biden hates the UK,” as he shared a video of Biden turning down an interview with the BBC, proclaiming “The BBC? I’m Irish.”  

Biden’s ancestral links to Ireland are far from recent with the Irish Times noting that his ancestors left for America in the 1840s and 1850s. 

First on the agenda for the UK is the conclusion of a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU. Negotiations are intensifying again this week with EU chief negotiator, Michel Barnier back in London to thrash out an agreement on fisheries, dispute resolution and state aid.

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