New British PM faces complications from Brexit

British Prime Minister Liz Truss has been in office for less than a month and already she faces a number of domestic crises and a shaky relationship with the United States.

Truss met with US President Joe Biden for the first time late last month.

One contentious issue between the two countries is the Northern Ireland Protocol, which is a part of the Brexit divorce deal that Britain has attempted to override.

Northern Ireland has a land border with an EU country, the Republic of Ireland, complicating trade arrangements between the region and rest of the UK.

Before Brexit, the flow of goods across this border was easy because both sides had the same EU rules.

Since Brexit, however, the trade has become more problematic because the EU and the UK have different standards, leading to time-consuming border checks for certain goods, such as milk and eggs.

The UK wants to override the protocol, but Washington has insisted that it should be respected.

Julio Crespo-MacLennan, a historian and professor at the IE School of Global and Public Affairs in Madrid, Spain, said: "Liz Truss has inherited a London-Washington relationship that, despite being very strong and cordial, has inevitably suffered under the effects of Brexit."

He said that US President Biden, unlike his predecessor, president Donald Trump, has shown more determination to defend the interests of the Irish Republic than the British ones.

Biden, who has Irish roots, has previously raised concern and stressed the importance of the UK reaching an agreement with the EU on the protocol along with protecting the Northern Ireland peace deal, the Good Friday Agreement.

As foreign secretary, Truss had introduced legislation to undo the post-Brexit trading agreements in Northern Ireland.

"Truss is one of the strongest voices of the Conservative Party to say that the Northern Ireland Protocol must be removed and that it's simply not working. She's very vociferous about this," said Gemma Loomes, a lecturer in comparative politics at Keele University, Staffordshire, UK.

"The protocol is a massively intractable issue in British politics at the moment. The Democratic Unionist Party is refusing to take part in the Northern Irish assembly because of the protocol, so it must be sorted."

In an interview with CNN, Truss said Britain is still seeking a negotiated solution with the European Union to resolve a stand-off over the protocol.

With Truss only in office for a few weeks, Loomes said it is still too early to tell what kind of prime minister she will be.

"We're still trying to work out what Truss' position is and what she believes in. Will she be pragmatic, or will she think one thing and do another. We need to find out what her position is," Loomes said.

A trade agreement between the UK and US was presented as a benefit of Brexit, and championed by former prime minister Boris Johnson.

However, Truss told reporters in New York that there were no negotiations taking place with the US and she did not expect those to start in the short to medium term.

"A trade deal with the US hasn't been realistic. The US doesn't really do trade deals, it's not really the way it organizes its international affairs.… A trade deal between the UK and US was never going to be realistic," Loomes said.

Crespo-MacLennan pointed out that Biden recently "warned that a trade deal with the UK was not a priority, proving in this way his reluctance to strengthen British-American relations in the present circumstances".

"The trade deal with the US is one of the reasons why Brexit was a very risky venture and has not managed to live up to the expectations it created. The UK already had strong commercial links with the US, and it was unlikely that this would increase from the moment the UK left the EU," he said.

Despite the strained relationship between the two sides, experts say they are still strong allies on other global issues

Crespo-MacLennan said: "Although the strategic value of the UK may have diminished under the effects of Brexit, it is one of the most important and reliable allies for the US."

He said that the conflict in Ukraine has "reactivated the value of UK for the US".

"Truss should focus on strengthening links, particularly via NATO and AUKUS, the trilateral security pact between the US, the UK and Australia," he said.

Loomes said: "Biden will prefer the UK to be part of the EU, and then that gives the UK more weight as far as Biden is concerned on the global scene. So I think from the US perspective, the UK is less important in trade terms now, but still a very important global partner in a security perspective."