Ireland says EU-U.K. trade deal in jeopardy over Northern Ireland row

The trade deal between the U.K. and the European Union will be thrown into question if Britain revokes its commitments to the Northern Ireland protocol, the Irish foreign minister warned. 

The two sides are embroiled in a stand off over the protocol, an agreement that allowed the U.K. to leave the bloc’s single market without creating a hard border on the island of Ireland. U.K. Brexit minister David Frost has demanded extensive changes to the accord, saying it damages trade in the region and has suggested Britain could unilaterally row back on promises made in the deal.  

That would place the wider trade agreement with the EU into jeopardy, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said on Sunday in Dublin. 

“If one is being set aside, there is a danger that the other will also be set aside by the EU,” Coveney said in an interview with in national broadcaster RTE, adding he believed the U.K. may be preparing to act unilaterally.  “I think they are deliberately asking for what they know they can’t get.”