From the US: The Speaker of the House of Representatives has announced that there will be no trade deal between the US and the UK if there is a Brexit with a hard border with Northern Ireland;
Brexit: No chance of US trade deal if Irish accord hit - Pelosi
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The reimposition of frontier controls between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland if the UK leaves the EU without mutual agreement on 31 October - a so-called "hard Brexit" - is seen as a threat to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which ended decades of bloodshed in Northern Ireland.
"Whatever form it takes, Brexit cannot be allowed to imperil the Good Friday Agreement, including the seamless border between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland," Ms Pelosi said in a statement on Wednesday........
'No chance of US deal' if Brexit hits Irish accord
But there is zero chance of frontier controls between NI and the Republic of Ireland. Both UK and R of I have ruled these out in all circumstances. For that matter there have never been such controls. During the troubles there were some security checks, but that is different from frontier controls. Pelosi needs to get her facts right. There is no threat to a seamless border.
I don't think people who haven't seen it understand this border, which as a national border is unusual. It runs along old Irish county boundaries. There are very few geographical features which correspond with the border. It's about 300 miles long (amazingly long because it winds so much) and has well over 300 recognised crossing points. It runs at times down the middle of roads, at times diagonally across fields. It runs through buildings. In Belleek the porcelain factory is situated in UK but has its entrance in Republic of Ireland. Several roads cross the border multiple times. There are areas of both Ni and RofI which have their only access from the other country.
There are very many institutions that straddle the border. Northern Ireland uses the system of individual banks issuing banknotes (four of them) and these are the usual bank notes in NI. (Bank of England and the three Scottish banks are accepted.) However two of the four NI note issuing banks are Republic of Ireland banks.
If anyone tried to close the border then the sectarian mobs (both sides) would tear down the border infrastructure. It might actually unite the two sides!
There has never been anything that resembles a national border and never will be.
The idea of a 1st Nov trade deal has been put forward by John Bolton, who is the US national security advisor, on a trip to London. Apparently it would be an interim agreement which is a matter for the President. I suspect the UK is looking at a whole package of agreements with USA, including on Hong Kong, Iran and trade