A White House spokesman said that President Obama was not trying to imply that Britain’s referendum to leave the European Union is less than final in remarks he delivered Wednesday in Ottawa.
“I think there are some general longer-term concerns about global growth if, in fact, Brexit goes through and that freezes the possibilities of investment in Great Britain, or in Europe as a whole,” Obama said during a press conference after the North American Leaders’ Summit.
“I think this may be an issue of sentence construction,” Obama’s press secretary Josh Earnest explained Thursday. “I think the president was speaking about the possibility of investment between the U.K. and Europe and the potential impact that that could have on the global economy.”
That’s all Obama was trying to convey, Earnest added. He also said that’s why it’s important for officials in U.K. and the EU “to set up a transparent and orderly process for Brexit to prevent the unnecessary complications of companies that are trying to maintain their business relationships throughout Europe and the U.K.”
Earnest added that Obama believes both governments need to implement a transparent and orderly process for Britain’s withdrawal.
Obama does not believe that last week’s referendum will be reversed, Earnest said.
British leaders have been “pretty definitive about the finality of this decision,” Earnest said. The British people were aware of the ramifications of the election’s outcome.
“It’s not like people didn’t know that this election was occurring,” Earnest said.
