Joe Biden fires Brexit warning shot at Boris Johnson saying he doesn’t want to see hard Irish border
JOE Biden has fired a Brexit warning shot at Boris Johnson by declaring he does not want to see a so-called hard Irish border.
The US President-elect spoke out as he revealed he had already discussed the tricky issue with the British PM and other European leaders.
"We do not want a guarded border," he told reporters last night. "We want to make sure we work hard to get Ireland worked out.
"I've talked with the British prime minister; I've talked with the Taoiseach; I've talked with others and I've talked with the French.
"The idea of having the border north and south once again being closed, it's just not right. We've just got to keep the border open."
He discussed Brexit with the British PM earlier this month during one of his first phone calls to other world leaders as president-elect.
He left Ireland in 1850 and settled in the US, only returning to his homeland a year later to bring his parents and siblings to the States.
What is the issue with the Irish border?
According to the , government sources in see a Biden White House as a “double-lock” on the Brexit issue.
There is a belief within Ireland that a Biden administration would be less instinctively friendly to Johnson’s government than the Trump White House.
Ireland's prime minister said on Monday that he hoped the outline of a Brexit free-trade deal would emerge within days - despite what the EU negotiator called "fundamental divergences" at talks.
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Negotiations between the UK and European Union on a post-Brexit trade deal resumed on Monday following technical discussions over the weekend.
Problematic issues including fishing rights, the "level playing field" aimed at preventing unfair competition in areas such as workers' rights and state subsidies and the governance of any deal are yet to be resolved.