President Obama warned Friday that the United Kingdom might be left at “back of the queue” when it comes to major trade deals if it votes to leave the European Union.
The U.S. has been focused on negotiating with “a big block” of countries, like the European Union, to “get a trade deal going,” Obama said, adding that renegotiating a massive major trade deal with Asian and other nations is “not gonna happen anytime soon.”
But if the United Kingdom left the EU, that would mean it is “going to be in the back of the queue given the heavy lift” of negotiating these agreements.
Obama, who is in London Friday for meetings with Prime Minister David Cameron and a visit with Queen Elizabeth, made the remarks in response to a question from a British reporter about whether he should be weighing in on the “Brexit” issue, considering that the United States would never consider giving up any part of its sovereignty.
Obama, who wrote an op-ed published Thursday advocating for the U.K. to remain in the E.U., said he is weighing in on the issue because “some folks other side” have been making statements about what the United States would do in terms of trade and other issues if the U.K. decides to leave.
“[They’re saying] we’ll just cut our own trade deal with the U.S.,” Obama said. “They’re voicing the opinion about what the U.S. is gonna do. I thought you might want to hear directly what we would do.”
