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Brexit: Good Friday Agreement 'cannot slip through cracks' in US trade deal talks

Frank Costello. Picture by Matt Bohill
Frank Costello. Picture by Matt Bohill Frank Costello. Picture by Matt Bohill

PROTECTING the Good Friday Agreement must not "slip through the cracks" in US-UK negotiations on a post-Brexit trade deal, a former US adviser has said.

Frank Costello said the new US special envoy to Northern Ireland, Mick Mulvaney, should stress to president Donald Trump that a deal cannot be made without passing through the US House of Representatives.

Dr Costello, who worked during the peace process in the Clinton administration, said there must be "no threat of a return to a land border" in Ireland.

Amid the coronavirus lockdown, early negotiations began remotely this week via video conference between the US and UK on a post-Brexit trade agreement.

US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has previously warned there is "no chance" of a trade deal if the Good Friday Agreement is compromised, while others such as Democratic congressman Richard Neal have made similar remarks.

Dr Costello, a one-time chief of staff to former congressman Joseph P Kennedy II, and who now resides in Belfast, said: "The still vital issue of ensuring protection of the Good Friday Agreement must not he allowed to slip through the cracks.

"If indeed Mick Mulvaney is to make any contribution as special envoy, he can do so without even going to Northern Ireland by relaying to the president as a former congressman himself that the US government can't make a deal with the UK without first passing the US House of Representatives.

"As speaker Nancy Pelosi and Richard Neal have stressed, this won't happen if the Good Friday Agreement – that the US helped negotiate – isn't fully protected.

"That means no threat of a return to a land border. The UK needs to resolve this with the EU and Brexit departure first."