Name: A Biden win would be bad news for a US trade deal
Brand: telegraph.co.uk
SKU: telegraph-co-uk-232
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

A Biden win would be bad news for a US trade deal

preview

Despite being in the throes of one of the most embittered US elections in recent history, has found ample time to once again wade into British affairs as Brexit discussions intensify. Stating that any repudiation of the Withdrawal Agreement or infraction of the Northern Irish protocol would put paid to a future UK-US trade deal, she has joined a long list of Democrats manoeuvring on behalf of a sizeable Irish lobby that claim to hold the keys to the White House every election.One would assume that any hue of American administration in the wake of an economically disastrous global pandemic would exhibit serious intent in finally securing an historic trade deal with the other half of the so-called special relationship. Yet is likely to put politics before prosperity, meaning pinning hopes on transatlantic trade for newly sovereign Britain has a very limited shelf life.I was in the States last Autumn, meeting Senators and Congressmen to demystify the ramifications of Brexit, and was astonished to find two very distinct camps. On one side, a Republican contingent barely briefed on Brexit and apathetic towards its potential for transatlantic trade. On the other, the American chapter of the&nbsp;Remainers convinced that an&nbsp;independent UK would lead to bloodshed on the Irish border.It was clear that EU and Irish lobbyists had been conducting secret squirrels with their ideological bedfellows in the Democratic wing for years.&nbsp; were drawn up long before Nigel Farage was even born.Underestimating the importance of the green vote in the red-blue power tussle and its impact on the future of our special relationship would be naive. If one was to play US election bingo, claims of Irish ancestry is a dead cert. During the New York primary of 1992, slap bang in the middle of The Troubles, promised to create a special envoy to Northern Ireland, upsetting the UK but shoring up Fenian support to hoover up Irish-American votes.Then came the absurdity of Barack “O’bama” and his comically tenuous claims of Irish ancestry in the town of Moneygall, allegedly home to a great-great-great grandfather, joking he had come home to find the apostrophe. The same Obama broke international protocol during the referendum campaign by stating an independent UK would be at the back of the queue for a US trade deal.Roll on 2020 Iowa caucuses and Biden, supposedly the great grandson of a blind fiddler from the Cooley Mountains, appointed a former ambassador to Ireland to hand out copies among Catholic populations of a two-page endorsement letter handwritten by a nun. In the remnants of US balkanised voting blocks, St Patrick’s army matters. But the bizarre Brexit bent to the US elections is not simply disposable campaign strategy.Democratic Congressman Richard Neal, chair of the Ways and Means Committee with jurisdiction over taxation and tariffs,&nbsp;warned that "the American dimension to the is indispensable"&nbsp;adding that as his committee oversees all trade agreements as part of its tax jurisdiction, the Northern Irish protocol must be strictly upheld or a UK deal would not be done.For those of us who have been tracking the EU’s international manoeuvres regarding Brexit, Pelosi’s mid-election interventions are not at all peculiar, and should fire a warning shot to Number 10.A Biden administration is not going to be as keen on UK commerce as a Trump one, and the clock to get a deal done is dramatically ticking down.Related TopicsThe Telegraph values your comments but kindly requests all posts are on topic, constructive and respectful. Please review our.You need to be a subscriber to join the conversation. Find out more.Show commentsAdvertisementRelated TopicsWe rely on advertising to help fund our award-winning journalism.We urge you to turn off your ad blocker for The Telegraph website so that you can continue to access our quality content in the future.Thank you for your support.Need help?Visit ourpage.Close

Despite being in the throes of one of the most embittered US elections in recent history, has found ample time to once again wade into British affairs as Brexit discussions intensify. Stating that any repudiation of the Withdrawal Agreement or infraction of the Northern Irish protocol would put paid to a future UK-US trade deal, she has joined a long list of Democrats manoeuvring on behalf of a sizeable Irish lobby that claim to hold the keys to the White House every election.One would assume that any hue of American administration in the wake of an economically disastrous global pandemic...

public

Alexandra Phillips

Think ahead with the latest news, comment, analysis and video. Subscribe here: https://telegraph.co.uk/customer/subscribe

A Biden win would be bad news for a US trade deal

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS