London: The threat by Johnson seemed to break a temporary truce in a war of words over part of the Brexit deal that covers border issues with Northern Ireland, the focus for tensions since Britain completed its exit from the EU late last year.
Despite U.S. President Joe Biden encouraging them to find a compromise, Johnson used a G7 summit to indicate no softening in his position on what is called the Northern Ireland protocol that covers border issues with the British province.
I think if the protocol continues to be applied in this way, then we will obviously not hesitate to invoke Article 16, he added, referring to a safeguard clause that allows either side to take measures if they believe the agreement is leading to economic, societal or environmental difficulties.
The European Union told the British government once again that it must implement the Brexit deal in full and introduce checks on certain goods moving from Britain to Northern Ireland. Britain repeated its call for urgent and innovative solutions to ease the friction.