UK Prime Minister Liz Truss has left for the US for talks with President Joe Biden. This is her first foreign trip as UK prime minister. Relations between Truss and Biden are strained after Truss as foreign minister had threatened to rip up the post-Brexit trading arrangements in Northern Ireland.
She begins her visit with an admission that a trade deal with the US is unlikely to happen for many years to come. Truss said that discussing global security and ensuring we are able to collectively deal with Russian aggression is the top priority.
Truss said she was more focused on obtaining accession to the Trans-Pacific trade partnership and striking trade deals with India and the Gulf Cooperation Council of states including Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Biden and Truss are expected to meet on Wednesday as world leaders assemble at the UN headquarters. Truss, at the UN, will underline the UK's support to Ukraine and its people in form of t £2.3 billion ($2.6 billion) in military aid in 2023. The UK is also expected to provide more weapons to Ukraine.
“Ukraine’s victories in recent weeks have been inspirational. Time and time again these brave people have defied the doubters and showed what they can do when given the military, economic and political support they need,” she told the Guardian.
US-UK trade looks like a distant prospect as the Biden administration seems unlikely to budge before the next presidential election. The US could back out of a trade deal if Washington isn't in sync with Britain's stance on the Northern Ireland protocol.
Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a border with an EU member, and Brexit has brought new customs checks and paperwork for Northern Ireland trade, an issue that has spiralled into a political crisis for the power-sharing government in Belfast.
In response, Britain has announced plans to suspend the checks and rip up part of its Brexit treaty with the EU a move that angered the bloc and alarmed Washington. Biden has warned that no side should do anything to undermine the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, the cornerstone of Northern Ireland's peace process.
Downing Street representative told Politico that the Truss government was looking at a Diwali deadline for a trade agreement with India.
– With PTI inputs
