A trade dispute between the U.K. and the EU erupts over post-Brexit deal

https://www.npr.org/2022/06/16/ [login to see] /trade-dispute-uk-eu-erupts-post-brexit-deal
When the United Kingdom officially left the European Union, Northern Ireland stayed behind in one significant way.

The country effectively remained part of the EU's single market for goods, a concept that allows goods to move freely among the member states. That condition was called the Northern Ireland Protocol.

This week, the U.K. government announced a proposal to rework part of the agreement it made with the EU during Brexit in a move one European official called "illegal."

It's set off an international trade dispute between the U.K. and the EU, and threatened to disrupt the relative peace in Northern Ireland since the Good Friday Agreement was reached in 1998.

"When we look at people's concerns around the protocol, above all else, no matter what background people are from, their concern is for political stability in Northern Ireland," Katy Hayward, a professor of political sociology at Queen's University Belfast, told NPR.

"I think this is why a majority of people are very keen for the UK and the EU to find their way back to the negotiating table fairly quickly."