Biden, Truss discuss plans to smooth over Northern Ireland divide at UN

Britain hopes the global goodwill toward the late queen will help smooth out bumps in relations with the U.S. and other allies caused by the U.K.'s departure from the EU.

U.S. President Joe Biden and U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss declared themselves staunch allies Wednesday as they tried to patch up a divide over Brexit’s impact on peace in Northern Ireland.

The leaders met at the United Nations two days after they attended the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in London, and Britain hopes the global goodwill toward the late queen will help smooth out bumps in relations with the U.S. and other allies caused by the U.K.’s departure from the European Union.

The U.S., in particular, is concerned that Brexit has rattled the foundations of the 1998 Good Friday peace accord that ended 30 years of sectarian violence.

At the end of the 75-minute meeting, Truss’ office said “the prime minister and President Biden both agreed that the priority must be protecting the Good Friday Agreement and preserving the gains of peace in Northern Ireland.” But there was no indication of agreement on how to do that after a conversation one senior U.S. administration official described as “candid.”

Biden made clear the gains of the Good Friday Agreement is a matter of bipartisan importance in the United States _ and a matter of personal importance to him as president, said the official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The proudly Irish-American Biden has taken a particular interest in the issue. He has warned that no side should do anything to undermine the Good Friday Agreement, which the U.S. played a key role in negotiating.

There seems little chance the irritant to trans-Atlantic relations will be removed imminently. U.K. officials see April 2023, which coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday accord, as a potential deadline to reach a solution on Northern Ireland.

Truss spokesman Max Blain said Northern Ireland took up a small part of the meeting at t he U.N. General Assembly in New York, which was dominated by the war in Ukraine and concern about the growing global clout of China.