Mr Biden took over at the White House in January after defeating Donald Trump in one of the most anticipated and controversial US presidential elections in political history. Republican Mr Trump had a fractured relationship with the European Union and continued to speak in favour of Brexit and the rising possibility of a lucrative trade deal between the US and UK. In contrast, during the lead up to the US presidential election and since taking the White House hot seat, Mr Biden has bemoaned Britain’s departure from the EU while regularly referencing his Irish heritage.
During his first press conference as US President, when asked about migrants at the US-Mexico border, Mr Biden took another huge swipe at the UK.
He told reporters: “When my great grandfather got on a coffin ship in the Irish sea, the expectation was he going to live long enough to get to the United States of America.
“They left because of what the Brits had been doing.
“They were in real, real trouble. They didn’t want to leave but they had no choice.
“I can’t guarantee we’re going to solve everything, but I can guarantee we can make everything better.”
Following the comments from Mr Biden, several people took to Twitter to question the UK’s chances of striking a trade deal with the US.
One tweeted: “How’s that trade deal going, Johnson?”
Another wrote: “I don’t think this bodes well for Boris in his Trade Negotiation with the US. Best of luck.”
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“We also welcome cooperation between our British and Irish partners on the Northern Irish Protocol and the recent strong statements on these governments’ full commitment to the Good Friday Agreement.”
The strong comments from the White House came just 24 hours after the UK government unilaterally extended a grace period for checks on food imports to Northern Ireland.
The move infuriated the European Commission, which has launched legal proceedings after describing it as a violation of the protocol and the good faith obligations under the Withdrawal Agreement signed with the UK.
Towards the end of last year, Mr Biden was also critical of the UK Government’s Internal Market Bill, which aimed to override key elements of the Withdrawal Agreement signed with the EU last year, thus breaking international law.
The legislation would have broken the Northern Ireland protocol of the treaty that looked to avoid a physical customs border between the British province and EU-member Ireland.
The US President threatened to pull the plug on a trade deal with the UK if the Government did not honour the Northern Ireland peace agreement following its departure from the EU.
In the aftermath, political experts warned a post-Brexit trade deal between the UK and US would not be one of President Biden’s immediate priorities.
Alistair Jones is Associate Professor in Politics, and University Teacher Fellow, at De Montfort University, Leicester, had told Express.co.uk: “Brexit is a stumbling block, particularly if the UK legislates to break international law.
“If that legislation goes through unamended, the UK goes to the back of the line in terms of a trade deal with the USA.”
Earlier this year, the European Union moved to trigger Article 16 of the Brexit agreement, which risked creating a hard border on the island of Ireland, during a row over exporting coronavirus vaccines, but they quickly backed down after huge backlash.
