Britain’s foreign minister is meeting politicians and businesspeople in Belfast on Wednesday, bearing good news: The U.K. and the European Union are inching closer to settling a post-Brexit trade dispute that has brought economic headaches and political turmoil to Northern Ireland.
James Cleverly is traveling to Belfast two days after Britain and the EU made a significant breakthrough, striking a data-sharing agreement that will give the EU access to real-time information about goods moving to Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K.
The two sides said the agreement is “a critical prerequisite to building trust and providing assurance” — things that have been in short supply since Britain left the bloc in 2020 — and provided “a new basis for EU-U.K. discussions.”
