UK raises stakes in EU spat with threat to break Brexit deal

LONDON (AP) — The British government dramatically escalated a fight with the European Union on Tuesday by saying it will pass a law to change the trade treaty signed by the two sides less than two years ago.

Britain says its move to scrap parts of the legally binding treaty is an insurance policy in case it can’t reach agreement with the bloc to end a long-running dispute over post-Brexit trade rules.

The threat of legislation is sure to rile the EU, which accuses Prime Minister Boris Johnson of trying to wriggle out of a deal that his government negotiated and signed as part of the U.K.’s exit from the bloc in 2020. It raises the specter of a trade war between Britain and the 27-nation bloc that is — even after Brexit — its major economic partner.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told lawmakers in the House of Commons that the move “is consistent with our obligations in international law.”

Truss said the bill will be published in the coming weeks, and she hopes to keep up talks with the bloc in the meantime.

“Our preference is to reach a negotiated outcome with the EU,” Truss said.

Britain says post-Brexit trade rules are hurting the economy and undermining peace in Northern Ireland, the only part of the U.K. that shares a border with an EU member state.

When Britain left the bloc and its borderless free-trade zone, a deal was agreed to keep the Irish land border free of customs posts and other checks, because an open border is a key pillar of the peace process that ended decades of violence in Northern Ireland.

Instead, to protect the EU’s single market, there are checks on some goods, such as meat and eggs, entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K.

The arrangement is opposed by British unionists in Northern Ireland, who say the new checks have put a burden on...