Northern Ireland's hybrid trade regime: an examination of the relationship between the Ireland-Northern Ireland protocol and the UK’s post-Brexit trade agreements

The Ireland-Northern Ireland Protocol has been one of the most contentious aspects of the EU-UK post-Brexit trade relationship. By requiring the UK to comply with to EU customs and internal market rules in relation to Northern Ireland, the Protocol has created a hybrid trade regime where Northern Ireland is subject to multiple, overlapping and often conflicting rules. This paper examines one area in which this hybridity manifests itself. It focuses on the interplay between the Protocol and post-Brexit UK trade agreements. It examines potential areas of conflict between Protocol obligations and obligations derived from UK trade agreements. In doing so, it sheds light on the extent to which compliance with the Protocol may undermine Northern Ireland’s ability to export and import goods under the preferential terms negotiated under UK trade agreements. It further discusses the consequences of these incompatibilities between the Protocol and these agreements for Northern Ireland and, more widely, the functioning of the UK internal market as whole.