Let’s take a deeper look at what the Westminster government is looking to achieve.
In short, it wants to create so-called red lanes and green lanes for goods imported from the rest of the UK into Northern Ireland.
The green lane would be for trusted traders transporting goods to Northern Ireland only. These would be exempt from checks and customs controls.
The red lane would be for products going on to the Republic of Ireland and the rest of the EU. These would undergo full checks and customs controls.
Tax rules would also be changed.
Businesses in Northern Ireland currently follow EU rules on state aid and VAT. That means government payments to help firms in Northern Ireland, and tax breaks, must be within limits set by the EU – the UK government wants to remove these limits.
The UK government also wants an independent body to settle trade disputes, rather than the European Court of Justice.
But the EU saw any backtracking on the post-Brexit deal it agreed with the UK in 2019 as a violation of international law.