It's Another Brexit Story. This One's a Big Deal

Yes, it is in one sense a not-so-sexy trade deal. And yes, it involves Brexit and "the numbingly dense language of trade rules," per the New York Times. But a breakthrough on Monday engineered by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is nonetheless being hailed as a major accomplishment. And if nothing else—because it could put to rest the last major snag related to Brexit—it might mean that everyone will have to read fewer stories involving that phrase.

• The deal: Three years after the UK left the European Union, the two sides have finally struck a deal on how to handle Northern Ireland. The north is legally part of the UK but geographically adjoined to the Republic of Ireland, which belongs to the EU. As a result, handling the flow of trade over the "soft" border led to huge complications. All in all, the issue has rattled UK-EU relations, "sparked the collapse of the Belfast-based regional government, and shaken Northern Ireland's decades-old peace process," per the AP.

• Big test: "Resolving this toxic bit of leftover Brexit business has been described as a defining test for Sunak," writes William Booth in the Washington Post. "People are watching to see if he can improve chilly relations with Europe and help restore a functioning government in Northern Ireland. He also hopes to bend ardent Brexiters in his Conservative Party, who don't quite trust him, to ... support his premiership."
• Boris rumblings: It's not a done deal yet, and Sunak must sell the deal not only to his own Conservative Party but to unionist leaders in Northern Ireland (who've refused to form a government over the issue). Former British PM Boris Johnson, who led Britain to break with the EU, is "dangling the threat of a rebellion" over the deal, per the Guardian. However, Johnson has withheld public judgment on what has become known as the Windsor Framework, and he and his allies may go along.
• The achievement: In his analysis in the Times, Mark Landler writes that, "at a stroke, Mr. Sunak has defused the primary source of tension between Britain and the European Union, a recurring irritant in the relationship between London and Washington, and one of the principal grievances of those who complain that Britain has failed to reap the benefits of its departure from Europe's single market." While much could still go wrong, Sunak "has gone a long way toward quieting the lingering ghosts of Brexit."
• Nitty-gritty: For those interested in the particulars of the deal and how it affects the movement of goods across the Northern Ireland border, the BBC has an "at-a-glance" primer. Think red lanes and green lanes, depending on the product and where it might end up. The EU's big fear has been that goods from Britain might be able to easily move from Northern Ireland into Ireland (and thus, Europe) through what amounts to a back door, per the Post. The north and south no longer have a hard border under the 25-year-old Good Friday Agreement, and the trade dispute threatened to put that historic pact in danger.

(More Northern Ireland stories.)