UK threatens to suspend trade protocol with the EU
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UK Foreign Secretary says the UK is ready to stop implementing parts of the protocol governing trade with Northern Ireland if talks with the EU fail.
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The UK is currently in talks with the EU to resolve trade arrangement issues.
UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said on Saturday that the UK was ready to take unilateral action that would suspend customs checks on goods destined for Northern Ireland.
Truss is due to hold talks with European Union Vice President, Maros Sefcovic, in order to resolve differences over post-Brexit trade arrangements for Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with EU member Ireland.
The UK and the EU agreed that Northern Ireland would remain in the EU's customs union for goods, with inspections of goods transported between mainland Britain and Northern Ireland instead.
Truss told The Telegraph, "I want a negotiated solution but if we have to use legitimate provisions including Article 16, I am willing to do that."
"There is a deal to be done," she said, adding, "I will not sign up to anything which sees the people of Northern Ireland unable to benefit from the same decisions on taxation and spending as the rest of the UK, or which still sees goods moving within our own country being subject to checks."
Article 16 provides the UK and the EU with the choice to opt to suspend implementing portions of the protocol governing trade with Northern Ireland if there are significant practical difficulties or trade diversion.
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