Aurelia Butler

The US urged the UK and the EU on Friday to reach a compromise on Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit trading arrangements after Boris Johnson threatened to tear up the agreement between the two sides.The British prime minister said during a trade mission to India that his government was willing to take unilateral steps to reform the Brexit deal, which has bedevilled UK-EU relations since taking effect.Asked whether he was prepared to legislate to give British ministers powers to neuter elements of the so-called Northern Ireland protocol in UK law — as first reported by the Financial Times — Johnson said: “Of course. That goes without saying.”Johnson’s stance came despite warnings from the European Commission and the opposition Labour party that taking unilateral action would put the UK in breach of international law.Washington urged the UK and EU to continue talks to resolve challenges around implementing the protocol. The US state department said America’s priority was to protect the “gains” of the Good Friday peace agreement.

“We recognise that there have been challenges over the implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol and that talks between the UK and EU to resolve these continue,” said a state department spokesperson.“The best path forward is a pragmatic one that requires courage, co-operation, and leadership.”The spokesperson added that Washington was urging all sides to “continue engaging in dialogue to resolve differences and bring negotiations to a successful conclusion”. Richard Neal, a Massachusetts Democrat and chair of the House ways and means committee, told the FT: “Preserving peace and stability on the island of Ireland is essential. Undoing the Northern Ireland Protocol could compromise the facilitation of post-Brexit trade between the UK and the European Union. The progress achieved thanks to the Good Friday Agreement should be maintained.” Asked about the protocol this week, a commission spokesman said it was “important to underline” that the Brexit deal which Johnson negotiated in 2019 created “legal obligations to which the UK is bound as much as we are”. EU diplomats have also warned it would be “utterly irresponsible” for the UK to be seen to be flouting international law at a time when Europe was trying to present a united front against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.Boris Johnson made his comments on Northern Ireland while on a trade trip to India © stefan Rousseau/Pool/ReutersPeter Kyle, shadow Northern Ireland secretary, said the government’s plan risked undermining the UK’s reputation for sticking to its word as Johnson toured the world seeking post-Brexit trade deals with countries such as India.While Johnson said the UK still wanted to resolve outstanding issues over the protocol on a bilateral basis with the EU, officials on both sides stated that talks to resolve differences over implementation have stalled.The agreement leaves Northern Ireland following EU rules for goods trade and creates a customs border in the Irish Sea which the British government and all the region’s pro-UK Unionist parties say is “unsustainable”. Some businesses have also complained that the protocol has introduced unnecessary bureaucracy.

In a sign of how far apart Brussels and London are, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Maros Sefcovic wrote to his British counterpart Liz Truss last month complaining the UK was still not providing adequate access to customs data, in a letter seen by the FT.The news that the UK government was preparing legislation that would give ministers powers to “switch off” parts of the protocol has emerged ahead of elections to the Northern Ireland assembly on May 5.The plan drew an angry reaction from the nationalist Sinn Féin party, which could emerge as the largest group in the assembly for the first time.“These senseless acts by the British government are completely out of touch with the majority of people in the north who support the protocol and realise that it is here to stay,” said a Sinn Féin spokesperson. Unionists leaders rally against the protocol in County Tyrone on Thursday © Liam McBurney/PASir Jeffrey Donaldson, leader of the Democratic Unionist party, currently the largest group in the Stormont assembly, said the DUP had made clear it wants the issues around the protocol to be resolved before it will agree to return to power-sharing in the region’s executive.“The protocol is not supported by unionists and it needs to be replaced with arrangements that respect Northern Ireland’s place in the UK,” he added.Doug Beattie, leader of the Ulster Unionist party, said changes were needed “and if the [UK] government is going to do something, they should just do it”.But Stephen Farry, deputy leader of the centrist Alliance party, called unilateral action “counter-productive and damaging”.“Businesses need pragmatic and sustainable solutions — and crucially they must be legal,” he said. More

WARSAW (Reuters) -Poland failed to reach agreement with air traffic controllers on Friday in a dispute over pay and conditions, a trade union spokeswoman said, moving airlines closer to what European authorities have said could be mass flight cancellations.The disruption, affecting not only flights to and from Poland but also those passing through the country’s airspace, could start on May 1, the day after the end of the notice period for air traffic controllers who chose to quit rather than accept new working regulations they say threaten safety.Talks will resume on Sunday afternoon, the spokeswoman said.European air safety body Eurocontrol said Poland’s Civil Aviation Authority will drastically cut the number of flights in Polish airspace if no agreement is reached.”As of 1 May, the Polish CAA will implement a flight cancellation programme to significantly reduce the number of flights into/out of Polish airspace,” Eurocontrol said in an emailed statement.”It is anticipated that there will be enough controllers for the approach to Warsaw airports to operate … with a total capacity of around 170 flights. The two Warsaw airports were expected to handle on average 510 flights each day in May.”According to the Polish air traffic controllers’ union, 180 out of 206 controllers working in Warsaw chose to resign rather than accept the new working conditions. Forty-four of the 180 have already left, and the notice period for the remaining 136 ends on April 30.The union says proposals including a cut in air traffic controllers’ pay and an increase from eight to 12 in the maximum number of hours they can work in a shift are unacceptable.”We are fighting for safety and for the return of a culture of work safety and this means an environment of trust, which is built, not bought,” it said in a statement on Thursday.Deputy Infrastructure Minister Marcin Horala has previously said the air traffic controllers’ pay demands are not realistic given the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has reduced the fees the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PANSA) gets from airlines. More

LONDON (Reuters) -Soybean oil prices soared to a record high on Friday as Indonesia’s decision to effectively ban exports of palm oil heightened concerns about already depleted global supplies of alternative vegetable oils. The loss of shipments from Ukraine, the world’s top supplier of sunflower oil, and drought in the world’s top soybean oil exporter Argentina had already sparked a sharp rise in global vegetable oil prices.The tightening vegetable oil supplies come as easing COVID-19 restrictions have sparked a surge in demand for food and biofuels. While oilseed crushers have announced plans to expand processing capacity, most of the new facilities will not be online for at least a year, industry sources said.Soybean oil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade rose to a peak of 83.21 cents per lb on Friday, up 4.5% on the day and a record high, before pulling back to 81.42 — still a record for the most actively traded futures contract. Prices have now risen by almost 50% so far this year.Indonesia, the world’s top producer and exporter of palm oil, blocked exports from April 28 to tackle rising domestic prices. The move looks set to fuel already surging food inflation elsewhere. “This is bad news for vegetable oil consumers in many countries which currently strongly depend on palm oil in view of shortages in sunflower oil, rapeseed oil and soy oil,” Siegfried Falk, an analyst at Hamburg-based Oil World, said.Food inflation has become a major concern around the globe following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a major exporter of wheat, corn, barley, sunflower oil and rapeseed oil.The United Nations food agency reported earlier this month that food prices had jumped nearly 13% in March to a new record high.Argentina, the world’s top supplier of processed soy ahead of Brazil and the United States, briefly halted new overseas sales of soybean oil and meal in mid-March before hiking the export tax rate in a bid to tamp down domestic food inflation.The U.S. Agriculture Department has predicted that U.S. soy crushers will process a record 60.282 million tonnes of soybeans this year, up 3.5% from a year ago.National Oilseed Processors Association Chief Executive Officer Tom Hammer said it will be hard to boost that capacity further until new plants come online. Another 10 to 12 new soy processors will be operating in the United States by 2025, with the first one expected to begin operations in 2023.”Ultimately there is going to be a lot more capacity (but) we have got a ways to go,” Hammer said.Palm oil is the world’s most widely used vegetable oil and is used in the manufacture of many products including biscuits, margarine, laundry detergents and chocolate. More

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexico’s Banorte said on Friday that “non-disclosure agreements” had been signed as a preliminary step toward a possible bid for Citigroup (NYSE:C)’s Citibanamex subsidiary even as the Mexican lender targets organic growth with the planned launch of a digital bank.Shares in Banorte were up more than 7%, hitting a two-week high after the company also delivered better-than-expected earnings and executives said the lender is seeking approval from regulators to launch a digital bank.Chief Executive Marcos Ramirez Miguel said Banorte is fighting “for an even playing field” versus startups.Banorte will present a proposal to its board and shareholders if it views terms regarding Citibanamex as “convenient,” Miguel said. Analysts have said they expect several banks could be interested in making an offer.Banorte Chief Operations Officer Rafael Arana declined to say whether Citi’s “data room,” in which it would define sale terms, had already opened. More