Joe Biden has dangled the prospect of a £4.8billion trade deal with the UK while on a visit to Ireland. The US President put pressure on unionist parties in Northern Ireland to return to Stormont, by hinting at the prospect of the trade deal.
The DUP has been staging a boycott of the Stormont Assembly since 2021 in protest of the problematic Northern Ireland Protocol.
Mr Biden has long suggested that any trade deal would be contingent on the protection of the peace in Northern Ireland, and no hard border post-Brexit.
Speaking yesterday, he said: “There are scores of major American corporations wanting to come here, wanting to invest.
“It is up to us to keep this going, keep going in the work that has been done every day for the last 25 years.”
DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson welcomed the US President’s visit but said it “doesn’t change the political dynamic in Northern Ireland”.
