Boris Johnson meets Joe Biden in White House as post-Brexit trade deal hopes fade

US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Boris Johnson were looking to build bridges after the fall of Kabul but hopes of a post-Brexit trade deal quickly faded

Joe Biden has shattered Boris Johnson’s dreams of a post-Brexit trade deal with the United States.

The President and PM were looking to build bridges after the fall of Kabul during their historic meeting at the White House on Tuesday.

Mr Johnson had insisted that Britain was “first in line” for an agreement after Donald Trump took office.

But asked whether that was still the case, Mr Biden told reporters tonight: “We’re going to talk about trade a little bit today and we’re gonna have to work that through.”

Ahead of his arrival in Washington, the PM had already admitted the US President had “a lot of fish to fry” other than striking deals.

Government insiders suggested Britain would look at other options including asking to join the the existing US-Mexico-Canada agreement instead.

A diplomatic source said: “There are a variety of different ways to do this. The question is whether the US administration is ready.

“The ball is in the US’s court. It takes two to tango.”

The PM was seeking to mend the rift with Mr Biden over the Northern Ireland border amid American fears the PM is putting peace in the province at risk.

But Mr Biden said he feels “very strongly” that he does not want a change to the “Irish accords” resulting in “a closed border”.

He said: “On the protocols I feel very strongly on those. We spent an enormous amount of time and effort, the United States, it was a major bipartisan effort made.

“And I would not at all like to see, nor I might add would many of my Republican colleagues like to see, a change in the Irish accords, the end result having a closed border in Ireland.”

A trade deal with America was billed as one of the prizes of Brexit and Mr Johnson is under pressure to prove the biggest upheaval in British foreign policy in decades was worth it.

As far back as 2016, then-President Barack Obama had cautioned Britain it would be “at the back of the queue” for an agreement.

But Donald Trump was much keener to strike a trade deal with Britain than his successor, boasting that it would be “fantastic and big” once signed.

Earlier, the PM had indicated that he did not expect to secure a free trade agreement with the US before the next election in 2024.

He said he has “plenty of reason to be optimistic” about getting the FTA which was touted by Leave supporters as a major prize of leaving the EU.

Mr Johnson, one of the architects of Vote Leave, raised the possibility that he could leave Downing Street without achieving a key ambition for the post-Brexit era.

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Asked if he would get the deal by 2024, the Prime Minister told Sky News: “We will keep going with free trade deals around the world including in the United States.

“I have plenty of reason to be optimistic about that. But the Americans do negotiate very hard.”

The UK currently has a deeper trading relationship with Canada and Mexico than it currently has with the US.

Other options would be for the UK to agree a series of smaller sectoral deals or trade with America through an agreement operating with countries round the Pacific rim.

Ministers hope that China’s economic might could encourage the States to push trade deals back up the agenda.