No UK trade deal if Good Friday accord hit: Pelosi

WASHINGTON: An American trade pact with Britain is doomed if the latter’s withdrawal from the EU undermines the Northern Ireland peace accord, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned on Wednesday.

“Whatever form it takes, Brexit cannot be allowed to imperil the Good Friday Agreement, including the seamless border between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland,” Pelosi, the top Democrat in Congress, said in a statement.

“If Brexit undermines the Good Friday accord, there will be no chance of a US-UK trade agreement passing the Congress.”Pelosi, a master legislator, strongly signalled that Republicans would join her Democrats in opposing a trade pact if Brexit undermines the peace deal. “The peace of the Good Friday Agreement is treasured by the American people and will be fiercely defended on a bicameral and bipartisan basis in the United States Congress,” she said.

The Republican co-chair of the Friends of Ireland group in the US Congress, Pete King, reportedly said jeopardising the open border was a “needless provocation” over which his party would have no hesitation defying Trump.

Those in Congress with a strong belief in Northern Ireland and the Good Friday agreement “would certainly be willing to go against the president,” King told The Guardian.On Monday US National Security Advisor John Bolton, a hawkish Trump aide, said Washington wanted to “move very quickly” on the trade pact after Britain exits the EU.