Obama says US respects United Kingdom’s decision to leave EU

President Barack Obama today said that the USA respects the decision of British people to exit from the European Union and hoped that the United Kingdom and EU will remain “indispensable partners” of America.

Ivo Daalder, a former USA ambassador to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, said Britain’s ability to press its views and policy preferences with its European allies and within North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, where it provided strong political backing to the United States, will be diminished.

Biden was more vocal in his opposition to the decision.

European Union leaders were reeling Friday after Britain’s shock vote to leave the bloc plunged the EU into deep uncertainty, not least over how to negotiate the unprecedented departure of a member state.

“The people of the United Kingdom have spoken, and we respect their decision”.

– Vice President Joe Biden made basically the same comment, and added at an event in Dublin, “We preferred a different outcome”. U.S. Treasury Sec. Jacob Lew promised to work closely with British and European officials to ensure “economic stability, security, and prosperity in Europe and beyond”.

The White House statement came while Obama was in San Francisco the evening before he was to address aspiring entrepreneurs at Stanford University. House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, tweeted that “the United Kingdom is an indispensable ally of the U.S., and that special relationship is unaffected by this vote”.

Still reeling from the United Kingdom decision, and with the pound losing value while markets shook, other top European Union officials tried to put on a courageous face despite having no clear idea how to negotiate the unprecedented departure of a member state.

At the time, Obama had suggested that the United Kingdom would pay for a “no” vote economically, getting less preferential trade consideration, and that security ties might be affected as well.

He is drawing parallels between the so-called Brexit vote and the USA presidential campaign, saying people want to take their borders back. “His recommendation perhaps caused it to fail”.

“We are determined to keep our unity at 27”, Tusk told reporters in Brussels, after the results of the referendum on leaving was announced in the United Kingdom.

The US leader said Britain and the European Union would both remain “indispensable partners” of the United States and that the “special relationship” with London would endure. He said Great Britain’s presence “magnifies” its influence and helps spread “British values”.

“There’s just not going to be an enormous amount of attention of policy bandwidth given to the migration crisis, fighting ISIS, or focusing on continued ceasefire violations in Ukraine and maintaining sanctions against Russian Federation”, she said.