BIDEN LANDS WITH WARNING FOR BRITAIN NOT TO “IMPERIL” PEACE PROCESS

Posted By: June 10, 2021

JOE Biden flew into Britain last night ahead of a meeting with Boris Johnson today on his first overseas trip as US president.

Mr. Biden will warn Mr. Johnson and the European Union not to “imperil” the Northern Ireland peace process, the US president’s national security adviser said, as they struggle to resolve a trade row.

The president will also use the visit to strengthen ties with allies at the G7 summit tomorrow and join efforts to agree a strategy to vaccinate the world against coronavirus.

Mr. Biden flew into Britain on Air Force One, landing at the US airbase at RAF Mildenhall before heading on to Cornwall for today’s talks with Mr. Johnson and the G7 summit in Carbis Bay.

Mr. Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned that the president harbors “very deep” concerns on the issue provoked by Brexit.

Mr. Sullivan said the president believes the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol is “critical” to ensuring that the Good Friday Agreement is protected, as Britain and the EU try to resolve the issue of checks in the Irish Sea.

The adviser told the BBC that both sides must continue with negotiations, adding: “But whatever way they find to proceed must, at its core, fundamentally protect the gains of the Good Friday Agreement and not imperil that.

“And that is the message that President Biden will send when he is in Cornwall.”

Mr. Sullivan declined to say whether a failure to alleviate the Northern Ireland concerns could jeopardize a transatlantic trade deal, but added that “our concern runs very deep on the Northern Ireland issue”.