US senator urges America to stay out of Northern Ireland Protocol talks

Speaking at the Policy Exchange think tank in London, Senator Joni Ernst welcomed productive trade negotiations between the US and the UK, but said her country’s government should not try to influence the talks taking place between the UK and the EU.

Senator Ernst said she agreed with her Republican party colleagues Ambassador Nikki Haley and Secretary Pompeo, who previously cautioned against the Biden administration’s approach to the NI Protocol negotiations.

The Iowa representative made her comments during a Policy Exchange ‘In Conversation’ event with Lord Godson on Thursday.

Earlier this year senior Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, threatened to scupper hopes of a US-UK trade deal in response to UK Government moves to redraft the post-Brexit trading arrangements.

Lord Godson said: “We had Secretary Pompeo here, we had an ambassador Nikki Haley here in recent months, and both of them said that it is not for the United States to get involved in the EU discussion between the UK and the EU on the Northern Ireland protocol”.

Senator Ernst replied: “Certainly not. And I think that's right, and and Nikki Haley, Ambassador Haley, and Secretary Pompeo, two of my favourite people, and they are right, it's not for us to tell other countries as they are going through negotiations, what to do and how to handle it. But certainly, if we want to engage in trade, we should be able to negotiate trade agreements".

Senator Ernst also referred to a recent trade agreement negotiated between the UK and the state of Indiana.

"I think that's important. And we've even seen in the case of Indiana, one of our states, they have already stepped up and done individual trade coming from a state with your nation”.

Announcing the outcome of the trade negotiations with Indiana in May this year, the UK Government said the “first state-level trade and economic development Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)” marked a “milestone in trade relations with the US”.

In a statement, the government said: “The MoU creates a framework to remove barriers to trade and investment, paving the way for UK and Indianan businesses to invest, export, expand and create jobs.”

As Senator Ernst was speaking in London, a US Congressional delegation was holding talks with the Irish Government before heading to Northern Ireland on Friday.

Speaking to the BBC’s Good Morning Ulster radio programme ahead of meeting the five main parties in Belfast, Massachusetts congressman Bill Keating said the American interest “is never to tell other countries what to do”.

Mr Keating said he was aware of the “challenges” being faced as a result of the NI Protocol, but said he sensed “there is a solution in there that can be had”.

He said: “We are friends of both Ireland and Northern Ireland. We are friends of the United Kingdom as a whole.”

Mr Keating went to say: “We have a stake in democracy… and a shared set of values, and the protocol issues does impact on the Good Friday Agreement”.