UK set to irk EU with bid to change post-Brexit trade rules

Tense post-Brexit relations between Britain and the European Union are facing further strain

LONDON -- Tense post-Brexit relations between Britain and the European Union face further strain on Wednesday, when the U.K. calls for major changes to trade rules agreed on by both sides. Brexit minister David Frost will set out proposals for smoothing out trade arrangements for Northern Ireland, the only part of the U.K. that has a land border with the 27-nation bloc. The divorce deal agreed before Britain’s departure means customs and border checks must be conducted on some goods moving between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K. The regulations are intended to keep an open border between Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland, a key pillar of Northern Ireland’s peace process. But they have angered Northern Ireland’s British unionists, who say they amount to a border in the Irish Sea and weaken ties with the rest of the U.K. Britain accuses the EU of taking a “purist” approach to the rules that is causing unnecessary red tape for businesses, and has called for the bloc to show “pragmatism.”