Trucks enter and leave Larne Port in Larne, Northern Ireland, UK on Oct 12, 2021. The UK and the European Union are preparing for a fresh clash over Brexit this week, with both sides set to unveil major policy proposals related to Northern Ireland. (MARK MARLOW / BLOOMBERG)

The trade deal between the UK and the European Union will be thrown into question if Britain revokes its commitments to the Northern Ireland protocol, the Irish foreign minister warned. 

The two sides are embroiled in a standoff over the protocol, an agreement that allowed the UK to leave the bloc’s single market without creating a hard border on the island of Ireland. UK Brexit minister David Frost has demanded extensive changes to the accord, saying it damages trade in the region and has suggested Britain could unilaterally row back on promises made in the deal.  

That would place the wider trade agreement with the EU into jeopardy, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said on Sunday in Dublin. 

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“If one is being set aside, there is a danger that the other will also be set aside by the EU,” Coveney said in an interview with in national broadcaster RTE, adding he believed the UK may be preparing to act unilaterally.  “I think they are deliberately asking for what they know they can’t get.”