Brexit continues to be an education. I had no idea about how international trade worked before it. I am now pretty much aware that I don't know much about it. Being aware of your ignorance is better than total ignorance. Trading is something that humans have always done - indeed we probably traded before we became human. It's something that comes naturally and on the whole makes us all better off. But it turns out that politics can trump it.
This became very clear over the last couple of days. There was some good news in the form of some very positive noises from the White House suggesting that a trade deal bewteen the US and the UK would be expidited. That can't be a bad thing. But it turns out that the Congress has to ratify anything agreed. The leader of the Congress, Nancy Pelossi, pointed out that they wouldn't sign off anything that threatened the Good Friday Agreement.
So it turns out that the UK has to pay close attention to the politics of the US. And the Irish government can use this to its advantage - with both the large number of American voters who identify with Ireland and its membership of the EU to strengthen its position. Thucydides said that powerful states do as they wish. Weak states endure what they must. We are weaker outside the EU. So we get pushed around. Ireland is now the strongest state in the British Isles.
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