US politicians threaten UK and interfere in NI, as Liz Truss prepares to act this week

Facts4EU.Org informs Senators and House Representatives on the latest, basic, NI facts

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2022

NI’s trade has been disrupted and its risk to the EU is almost non-existent

In this exclusive report, which includes the latest trade figures just published, Facts4EU.Org is able to show US Senators and House Representatives just how the EU has weaponised and subjugated part of the United Kingdom over a meaningless matter – to punish the UK for leaving the EU.

As Liz Truss prepares to announce unilateral UK Government action, below we show what US politicians have been saying, how British politicians have reacted, and how the EU’s intransigent position is a tissue of fabrications from start to finish.

How the EU has destroyed the Belfast/GFA Agreement on false pretences

We start with the latest trade figures. The EU has always claimed the NI Protocol was essential to “protect the Single Market”. The official trade figures show this is patently false.

Goods from Northern Ireland crossing the border into the Republic of Ireland represent just 0.17% of total EU imports.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

The reality of the meaningless “threat to the EU’s Single Market”
Official goods trade figures for 2021

Total NI goods exports to the world : £7.8bn
Goods exports across the border : £3.1bn (39.7%)
Total EU goods imports : € 2,119.4bn (approx £1,781 GBP)
Cross border goods imports from NI : €3.7bn (£3.1bn GBP)
The ‘risk’ to the EU’s Single Market represents just 0.17% of total EU imports

Source data: The value for the EU27's total goods imports for 2021 come from the EU's official statistics agency. The NI component comes from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA), converted into Euros @ £1 = €1.19.

It is a simple fact that the purported risk to the EU’s Single Market – as constantly claimed by the EU Commission - is so tiny as to be meaningless. And yet the EU has used this as the premise for effectively trouncing the Good Friday Peace Agreement.

What have US politicians been saying and threatening?

Here is US House Representative Brendan Boyle, on Twitter in Paris yesterday:-

“We call upon the UK to implement fully the NI Protocol, which avoids a hard border on the island of Ireland, preserves the integrity of the EU Internal Market, and protects the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts. We agree that renegotiating the Protocol is not an option.”
— US Rep Brendan Boyle (@RepBrendanBoyle) May 22, 2022

And here is the reply from Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP, leader, DUP:

“Such folly. Implementing the protocol in full means ending grace periods, with an economic tsunami hitting Northern Ireland.
“Power sharing only works with cross-community consensus. There is no unionist support for the protocol. The protocol will destroy the Good Friday Agreement if not dealt with.”
- Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP, replying by Twitter to Brendan Boyle, Sun 22 May 2022

This young Democratic House Representative’s uninformed views would not normally be a matter of concern. However, given that he is part of the US delegation to the EU Parliament his words and his statements carry a little more weight than they they normally would.

Then we have Nancy Pelosi…

Ms Pelosi is Speaker of the House and has never been a friend of the United Kingdom

“It is deeply concerning that the United Kingdom now seeks to unilaterally discard the Northern Ireland Protocol, which preserves the important progress and stability forged by the Accords. It continues to enjoy strong bipartisan and bicameral support in the United States Congress.
“As I have stated in my conversations with the Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary and Members of the House of Commons, if the United Kingdom chooses to undermine the Good Friday Accords, the Congress cannot and will not support a bilateral free trade agreement with the U.K.”
- Speaker Nancy Pelosi, tweeting on Thur 19 May 2022

Photo above: Nancy Pelosi’s audience with Pope Francis, Oct 2021

Reply from Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP, leader, DUP

“I think her contributions are entirely unhelpful, offer no solution, offer no help and merely repeat the mantra that is hopelessly out of date.”
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP, speaking in response to US Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, May 2022

Other British politicians have been speaking out in response to their US counterparts

Here is the Rt Hon Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP, tweeting on 16 May 2022:

“Section 13.8 in the NI Protocol makes it very clear that both sides are committed where necessary to 'replace either in whole, or in part' if it doesn't work or areas cause trade diversion and/or political instability which is damaging for the Good Friday Agreement.
“The EU should have been sitting down properly to discuss what was necessary, but they have been intransigent from day one.”

Observations

US politics...

It must be noted that US politicians are (naturally) focused on their own electorates. Foreign policy is something which occupies only a very small fraction of their time. When they do interfere in other countries’ domestic affairs, they do so in many cases from a position of ignorance.

Almost from the moment they are elected, these politicians are already starting to plan for their re-election campaign. It is virtually a full-time job.

On top of this we have the portion of the US electorate who are, (or who claim to be, like Joe Biden), of Irish descent. Then we have Catholics such as Nancy Pelosi, and individuals such as US House Representative Brendan Boyle, where a clue might be found in his name.

What is the British Embassy in Washington doing?

It is a broadly accepted fact that the Foreign Office is riddled with those who were firmly in the Remain camp in 2016. Some, such as the estimable former Ambassador Sir Christopher Meyer, have shown the highest standards of professionalism. Overall, however, questions must be asked at how much effort FCDO officials in America are putting into the job of truly representing the interests of Brexit Britain.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss does seem to have been doing her job in flying the flag – in the US and around the world. Indeed Facts4EU.Org recently reported on her tour of the States, where she started trade deals with individual US States – effectively bypassing Congress.

Facts4EU.Org is continuing to do its job: providing well-researched facts, summarised with punchy bullet points and ‘at-a-glance’ charts. We hope that our report today provides excellent ammunition. Most US politicians simply do not have time for long essays.

The British Embassy in Washington is welcome to use our research and all the 100+ reports we have published on the problems of the EU’s “Northern Ireland Protocol”. We really wish they would.

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[ Sources: NISRA | ONS | HMRC | EU Commission | US Congress websites and statements ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Mon 23 May 2022

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Reader Comments 15

11. jon livesey , Monday, May 23, 2022, 14:53:

Half of this story is missing. The missing piece is that the UK is going ahead with its legislation to amend the NIP. It does not really matter who passes what "Official Joint Statement" when none of them can actually do anything. The US can threaten not to give us an FTA we are surviving perfectly well without, and the EU can threaten to be obstructive on some minor matter in retaliation. But none of them can prevent the UK from passing its own legislation, so it will go ahead.
If you want a question that is interesting, ask whether Starmer will support the legislation to amend the NIP.

12. Adam , Monday, May 23, 2022, 20:42:

Good news Jon Livesey the so-called Democratic party in the United States is expected to do very by badly in the midterms in November so goodbye nosey Pelosi. Good riddance though I am no longer bothered if Britain and America signed a trade deal a potential next Republican administration or Republican senate and Congress tend to be friendlier towards the UK, anyhow pretend Irish like Biden have never been east of Boston they are naive in believing anything the terrorists Sinn Fein say the UK should federalize with a codified written constitution like the Canadians and Australians

13. jon livesey , Monday, May 23, 2022, 22:30:

2. Adam: Right. The way I would put all this is that a lot of US politicians are just doing "box ticking". In the US there is a perception of a monolithic and important "Irish American" vote and it gets pandered to because that's the electoral "safe" thing to do in US domestic politics. But the point I was making is that after six solid years of Brexit, if any of these people were actually going to *do* anything, they would have done it. For a self-appointed bunch of American politicians to come to Europe and pass "statements" representing themselves means absolutely nothing except symbolism.
Basically, we ought to continue to do what we have been doing, which is to make it clear that it is the EU that is refusing to negotiate, and press ahead with domestic legislation. The legislative process is very important because it will flush opposition out into the open. The people who currently have an open goal by saying that modifying the NIP in any way will destroy the GFA will now have to look at the legislation line by line and say exactly what they object to.
I would really like to hear Nancy Pelosi get up and explain exactly how sending a box of biscuits directly to a retail store in Belfast is going to create a hard border in Ireland. This is how you deal with crooks on and off the Internet - make them explain exactly what they mean.

14. Adam , Monday, May 30, 2022, 09:50:

The UK Government must put Pelosi Biden and the non Democratic party senator's on a refuse entry to the UK list possibly expel the US ambassador and throw their military bases out as well if the US sensibly gets a republican administration and Congress next time we could restore ties with the USA the American people are not the enemy

15. help refuges , Thursday, June 16, 2022, 10:39:

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