A SENIOR US politician's assessment that the dispute over the Northern Ireland Protocol seemed to be "manufactured" was met with anger last night from unionists.
Congressman Richie Neal warned the British government that "any incautious move" to undo the post-Brexit trade arrangements would put the Good Friday Agreement at risk.
Speaking in Dublin he stressed that negotiation, rather than unilateral action, was needed.
But Mr Neal's intervention on the eve of the US delegation travelling north, were met with an angry response from unionists, with DUP MLA Diane Dodds claiming the Massachussetts respresentative's intervention was "more of a hindrance than a help".
Ahead of the bipartisan committee arriving in Derry this morning before a series of engagements in Belfast later today, Mr Neal yesterday addressed the Senead in Dublin.
The Democratic congressman told senators that the preserving peace in Ireland was the US's "number one priority".
He said the 1998 peace accord worked because "it had something in it for all sides".
"Unilateral actions, intransigence and ultimatums are not solutions, nor have they ever been," he said.
"America will continue to nudge and nurture this agreement – after all, the Good Friday Agreement is America's too."
Before his Senead address, Mr Neal told reporters in Dublin that "it was up to London" to help find a solution on the protocol.
He said there was a "vagueness" from the UK over what had prompted the legislation that would override aspects of the agreement it brokered with the EU.
"We began in Brussels with purpose and moved to London – so, we quickly heard divergent views, but we, as always, are going to meet with everybody who has an interest here," he said of the committee's meetings this week.
"But the protocol dispute seems to me to be a manufactured issue. I have on this delegation people who are experts at trade and they also would confirm that they think these issues on the trade front, if that's really the dispute, could be ironed out quickly."
DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson hit out at the congressman's comments.
"If Richie Neal believes that distorting the truth about election results and ignoring the totality of unionist opposition to the protocol will safeguard the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, then he merely exposes his own ignorance and prejudice and slavish adherence to Sinn Féin dogma," he said.
Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie tweeted: "Unbelievable - is this really helping the situation in any way."
The escalating row came as Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said the EU was willing to remove the "vast majority of checks" on goods arriving from Britain destined solely for Northern Ireland.
