US president will host a town hall with youth in the UK next week and offer his position that the US supports ‘a strong UK in the European Union’

Barack Obama will strike a delicate balance over Brexit during a visit to the UK next week, where he will host a town hall with youth and offer his view “as a friend” that Britain should remain in the EU.



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White House officials suggested on Thursday that the president will only wade into the contentious debate if asked, and reiterated Obama’s position that the US supports “a strong UK in the European Union”.

“He will make very clear that this is a matter the British people should decide when they head to the polls in June,” Ben Rhodes, the White House deputy national security adviser, said in a conference call with reporters.

“We believe that all of us benefit when the EU can speak with a strong and a single voice and can work with us to advance our shared interests whether on security or prosperity,” he added. “We believe that the UK has benefitted from the single market that is good for the British economy and that, in turn, is good for the United States economy.”

Although Obama has made his position clear before, the president risks potential backlash by weighing in on Brexit with two months remaining before Britons go to the polls on 23 June to vote on the referendum.

It is uncommon for the White House to involve itself in matters pertaining to elections in other countries, and the administration typically tries to avoid doing so when scheduling both overseas trips and invitations of foreign leaders to Washington. But while in the UK, Obama will also hold a joint press conference with the prime minister, David Cameron, with whom the US president shares a close bond. Cameron has referred to Britain leaving the EU as “the gamble of the century”.

The White House remained cautious about the optics of Obama’s visit, underscoring that the president had traveled to the UK several times before and that the focus of this trip would include counterterrorism and the fight against the Islamic State.

“I think his approach will be that if he’s asked his view as a friend, he will offer it, but he will make very clear that this is a matter the British people should decide when they head to the polls in June,” Rhodes said.

Officials cited the economic interest of keeping Britain within the EU, framing its argument in similar terms deployed by the International Monetary Fund this week: the potential disruption of trade and commerce, and job losses in both the UK and Europe.



“The United Kingdom has exercised an outsized influence in the world for the last several centuries and it’s one of the countries that has most shaped the modern era,” said Charlie Kupchan, a special assistant to Obama and the senior director for European Affairs at the White House.

“And we hope that that outsized influence continues and we think that in today’s world, that kind of influence is best exercised through clubs, through multilateralism, through teamwork. And in that respect, it’s our estimate that the United Kingdom will continue to play that role most effectively if it remains part of the European Union.”