UK and EU reach new deal over post-Brexit trade arrangements for Northern Ireland, sources tell BBChttps://t.co/gELefVVicY

— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) February 27, 2023

[Color me skeptical that whatever gets decided will be both practical and palatable for the factions in Ireland on either side of the border. The UK and the Republic of Ireland have a treaty commitment to keep the border in Ireland open, and Brexit requires a hard trade border with the EU. It has to either be located in Ireland or in the Irish Sea. Loyalists want it on land, and the Irish and EU want it in the sea. All sides have spent the last several years attempting to avoid that obvious binary choice with a series of Rube Goldberg-esque regulatory labyrinths that satisfy no one except the lawyers. Brexit created this conundrum, and there’s no fixing it while keeping Northern Ireland in the UK’s trade jurisdiction. — Ed]