Ghost of Brexit

Follow Us Get the newsletter The Brexit bills are starting to fall due for Boris Johnson just as the U.K. prime minister seeks to cast himself as a global statesman leading the Group of Seven's fight to defeat Covid-19. Top British and European Union officials meet today to try to defuse a deepening confrontation over trade to Northern Ireland, an issue Johnson claimed to have resolved with his "oven-ready" withdrawal agreement in 2019. Supplies of food and medicines are being roiled as businesses grapple with EU health and safety regulations, Joe Mayes and Alberto Nardelli report. That's a consequence of Johnson agreeing to put a trade border in the Irish Sea to avoid customs checks on Ireland, even as he vowed there wouldn't be a burdensome mass of paperwork. Concern for the Good Friday peace agreement that ended decades of conflict in Northern Ireland is at the heart of the tensions. Anger over the disruption has already fueled violence in the province. U.S. President Joe Biden will hold talks with Johnson and EU leaders on the dispute on the sidelines of this weekend's G-7 summit in southwest England. The Times of London this week reported that Biden, who emphasizes his pride in his Irish roots, will warn Johnson not to renege on the Brexit accord and that prospects for a U.S. trade agreement will be hurt if the issue isn't resolved. After a good start on tax reform, Johnson had banked on the summit showing "Global Britain" in action, as he and Biden rally the G-7 to help vaccinate the world against Covid-19 and seek to deliver commitments on climate change. Instead, the risk is that disagreement over Northern Ireland sours the mood and underlines that Brexit still isn't "done," whatever Johnson may say. — Anthony Halpin Demonstrators block a road in West Belfast on April 19. Photographer: Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images Click here to follow Bloomberg Politics on Facebook and tell us how we're doing or what we're missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net. Global Headlines Infrastructure breakdown | Biden's hopes for a bipartisan deal on the biggest infrastructure package in decades suffered a blow when direct talks with the lead Republican negotiator ended. While discussions aren't over, the differences between the two parties on taxes and repurposing pandemic-relief funds raise the likelihood that Democrats will pursue a package on their own. Era of supergrids | Chinese President Xi Jinping's pitch to the United Nations six years ago for a "global energy internet" with high voltage highways as its backbone hasn't gone very far. Yet, as Marc Champion writes, the increased need for long-distance transmission spurred by the race to replace fossil fuels with green energy is driving renewed interest in supergrids. A photovoltaic power plant in the Gobi desert. Source: Costfoto/Barcroft Media/Getty Images Junta support | China says its policy toward Myanmar remains unaffected since a military coup four months ago, bolstering support for a regime that's faced multiple rounds of sanctions from the U.S. and its western allies. The junta has killed more than 850 people and arrested nearly 6,000 others since it overthrew the democratically elected government on Feb. 1, while civilian leaders including Aung San Suu Kyi are in detention. Since China imposed a national security law on Hong Kong a year ago, it has snuffed out protests, arrested democracy activists and overhauled the election system. Now the financial hub's vibrant media scene is under threat. Tough challenges | Sudan's finance minister, Gibril Ibrahim, once led a rebel group fighting to overthrow the regime of former dictator Omar al-Bashir. Now, Simon Marks and Mohammed Alamin report, he's a linchpin of the transitional government battling to persuade the military to accept changes needed to revive the shattered economy and lure foreign investment, amid public anger over food shortages and rising prices. A top U.S. envoy appealed to Iran to accept a "mutual return" to the 2015 nuclear deal as diplomats are set to gather to negotiate a cap on Tehran's atomic program in exchange for sanctions relief. The remarks preceded testimony by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who warned that Iran's nuclear program is "galloping forward" in the absence of a deal.  Hard labor | The head of Russia's prison service has offered a solution to the collapse of migrant labor from the coronavirus pandemic: revive the Soviet-era practice of putting convicts to work. The association of prison labor with one of the darkest chapters of Communism hasn't deterred top bureaucrats, who've taken up the idea with enthusiasm. But, as Aine Quinn reports, don't call it a Gulag. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said his country doesn't have "excessive expectations or illusions" about a possible breakthrough at President Vladimir Putin's upcoming summit with Biden. Sponsored Content These cards feature $200 bonus offers and up to 3% cash back. PLUS no annual fee and no interest for 15 months. A long-time credit card writer says these are some of the best deals he's seen in his years of writing for top financial websites. Wise Bread What to Watch Biden and EU leaders will commit to ending outstanding trade battles when they meet next week and promise to remove tariffs related to a steel and aluminum conflict before the end of the year. The U.S. and the EU are set to back a renewed push into investigating the origins of Covid-19 after conflicting assessments about where the outbreak started. U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak is pressing for the City of London to be exempt from a plan by global leaders to make multinationals pay more tax to the countries they operate in. The European Commission is poised to kickstart legal action against Germany as soon as today after the nation's top court ruled that the European Central Bank's 2.7 trillion-euro quantitative easing program might be unconstitutional. And finally ... From Bangladesh to Nepal to Rwanda, vulnerable Covid-19 hotspots have been grappling with stalled vaccination programs as they run out of doses. Many of those shortages can be traced back to a single company: The Serum Institute of India. The largest global vaccine maker has been dogged by setbacks, from a ban on exports to a factory fire. As Chris Kay and P.R. Sanjai write, it is a cautionary tale for a world that became over-reliant on one manufacturer amid the pandemic. People wait at a Covid-19 vaccination center in Pune, India on May 5. 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