Joe Biden will urge Liz Truss to work with the EU to find a negotiated outcome to resolve post-Brexit tensions over the Northern Ireland Protocol, the White House said. The US president and prime minister will hold a delayed meeting today in New York as Trump attends the UN summit. He refused to discuss the protocol with French President Macron during a meeting yesterday and No 10 did not say whether he would discuss it with Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission. Jake Sullivan, US national security adviser, made it clear that Biden would discuss it “in some detail” with Truss. Sullivan told reporters the president would “encourage the UK and the European Union to find an effective outcome that ensures there is no risk to the fundamental principles of the Good Friday Agreement”. The prime minister is pushing ahead with the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol bill, which the EU and other critics say will breach international law. Some predict he could unilaterally trigger Article 16 of the protocol, to override parts of the deal he brokered as part of the Brexit divorce deal
Truss meets the first lady of Ukraine
Liz Truss met Olena Zelenska and New York STEPHEN RUSSO/PA Liz Truss met Olena Zelenska, the wife of Ukraine’s president, and Denys Shmyhal, the prime minister, as they toured an exhibit titled “Russian Warcrimes” at the Ukrainian Institute of America on Tuesday afternoon. They crossed paths briefly with Brigitte Macron, the first lady of France, as she arrived for her own tour. The exhibit includes more than 20 large-format photographs showing civilians killed or injured. “These are the crimes we thought were consigned to history,” Truss said. The two met as Russia signaled it would annex parts of Ukraine by holding referendums in the regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhia.
