A President Biden will be wary of Brexit






Joe Biden during his visit to Ireland in 2016. Biden's visit to Ireland actually coincided with the Brexit referendum in the UK. RollingNews.ie photo.

By Irish Echo Staff

The Brexit negotiations between the European Union and the United Kingdom have not been going too well and are stalled with less than six months to go before an agreement deadline.

The discussions thus far, according to EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, "confirm that significant divergences remain between the European Union and United Kingdom."

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Separate to the talks between London and Brussels are those between London and Washington with a view to a new U.S./UK trade deal, a pact that the British side views as something of a banker should there be a failure to reach a deal with the EU.

President Trump backs a new trade deal with the UK while being a supporter of Brexit.

But what if Joe Biden wins in November?

Such a scenario was recently touched upon in a New York Times report on Brexit which stated that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson would face "an uncertain new counterpart" in a President Biden.

The report stated that a Biden presidency would sill be supportive of the alliance with Britain, but it also revived the words of President Obama who stated that Britons would be at the "back of the queue" with regard to trade if they voted for Brexit.

A majority in the UK did, though not in Northern Ireland or Scotland.

Continued the Times report: "Mr. Biden is also a devoted Irish-American who would look out for Ireland's interests as Britain negotiates its long term trade relationship with the European Union. The preservation of the Good Friday Agreement, which ended years of sectarian strife in Northern Ireland, is an article of faith among Democrats."

Mark Malloch-Brown, a former United Nations deputy secretary general, told the Times: "Democrats are bewildered by the logic of Brexit to begin with. There is a very strong Democratic Irish lobby, which will be really watching like a hawk that this doesn't put Ireland at a disadvantage."






 

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