Pols weigh in on Brexit GFA threat

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during her visit to Ireland in April, 2019. Congressman Richard Neal is in the foreground of the picture. RollingNews.ie photo.

By Irish Echo Staff

A chorus of Democratic political leaders, with former vice president Joe Biden in the vanguard, have come out in defense of the Good Friday Agreement in the context of the British government's apparent effort to sidestep parts of the agreement in the context of Brexit, this by way of the "Internal Market Bill" that is now before the House of Commons.

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As House Ways and Means Chairman Congressman Richard Neal led the charge on Wednesday, Biden foreign police advisor, Antony Blinken, tweeted that Biden was "committed to preserving the hard-earned peace & stability in Northern Ireland. As the UK and EU work out their relationship, any arrangements must protect the Good Friday Agreement and prevent the return of a hard border."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, according to reports, has warned that Britain will be unable to secure a trade deal with the U.S. if it does anything to undermine the GFA.


"If the UK violates that international treaty and Brexit undermines the Good Friday accord, there will be absolutely no chance of a U.S.-UK trade agreement passing the Congress," Pelosi said in a statement on Wednesday.


In addition, Philadelphia congressman Brendan Boyle tweeted: “Speaker Pelosi, yet again, has made clear in her words there would be absolutely 'no chance' of a U.S.-UK trade deal passing Congress if the Good Friday Agreement were undermined.”

CNN reported that a trade deal with the U.S. is especially important for London post-Brexit given the size of the U.S. economy, the historic relationship between Britain and the U.S. and the fact that the U.S. is the UK's largest single trading partner, despite the two having no formal trading agreement.


 

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