House Speaker Paul Ryan Paul Davis RyanKenosha will be a good bellwether in 2020 At indoor rally, Pence says election runs through Wisconsin Juan Williams: Breaking down the debates MORE (R-Wis.) suggested he might have supported the Brexit vote if he were a citizen of Great Britain, saying it’s a “foreign” concept for Americans to be governed by another government.

In a radio interview that aired Monday, Ryan said he wasn’t surprised by Britain’s vote last week to pull out of the European Union “because people want self-government, they want self-determination, and I can’t say that I would feel differently if I were a citizen of Great Britain when you have people from other countries regulating your country, writing your laws."

ADVERTISEMENT

“It is so foreign for us as Americans to even think about the concepts that somebody or some official in Brussels, in another country, would be writing our laws and changing our sovereignty,” the Speaker told WGTD radio station in Kenosha, Wis. “As Americans … we believe in sovereignty, in self-government, government by consent.

“So I clearly relate to the thinking behind the Brexit vote, behind ‘leave.’”

Britain’s stunning decision to leave the 28-nation EU roiled global markets and led to the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron. But like he said in a statement last week, Ryan reiterated that the U.S. will stand with its close ally as it negotiates an exit from the EU.

“What is important for us as Americans … is to show solidarity with the people of Great Britain, to demonstrate that they are still our ally, our indispensible ally, our special relationship is intact,” Ryan said Monday, “so that we can continue to have a peaceful landing here, so we can sort of settle down the jittery markets, because we don’t want to see economic turmoil as a result of this.”

President Obama opposed Brexit and urged British voters not to leave the EU during a visit earlier this year.