The US is skeptical over its plan to remove the tariffs on UK steel and aluminum and is delaying the trade deal due to London’s threats to change post-Brexit trading rules, which directly affects Northern Ireland (NI).
According to a report released by Financial Times on Wednesday, a US commerce department official was quoted as saying that talks with the UK on easing Trump-era metals tariffs could not move ahead, due to British threats to unilaterally trigger Article 16 of the NI protocol, which undermines the peace on the island of Ireland.
Article 16, which addresses emergency provisions, allows both the UK and the EU to suspend any part of the agreement that causes “economic, societal or environmental difficulties that are liable to persist, or to diversion of trade.”
The NI protocol was agreed as part of the Brexit deal to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland. According to this protocol, NI remains in the EU’s single market for goods as well as in Great Britain’s market, creating a trade border between NI and Great Britain, which requires transitioning goods to be checked and controlled.
The EU has proposed measures to ease those checks, but the UK is demanding fundamental reforms.
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