President Obama is warning against worldwide "hysteria" in response to Britain's vote to leave the European Union.
Obama told NPR in an interview published Tuesday that the vote will "pause" European integration efforts, but said the basic security and economic relationship between the U.S. and Europe won't be disrupted.
"There's been a little bit of hysteria post-Brexit vote, as if somehow NATO's gone, the trans-Atlantic alliance is dissolving, and every country is rushing off to its own corner," he said. "That's not what's happening."
The president has sought to calm fears about the impact of last week's stunning Brexit vote.
World financial markets have tumbled in the days since due to uncertainty spurred by the United Kingdom's impending exit from the 28-nation political and economic partnership.
Britain has the world's fifth-largest economy and is the U.S.'s closest ally in Europe.
Obama said last week he respected the decision made by British voters, but insisted the "special relationship" between the two nations would not change.
The Brexit vote was fueled by populist concerns about Britain's ability to control its own immigration policy, a debate that has parallels to Donald Trump's rise in the presidential race.
But Obama knocked down the notion that a vote for Trump would satisfy those concerns.
"Mr. Trump embodies global elites and has taken full advantage of it his entire life," Obama said. "So, he's hardly a spokesperson - a legitimate spokesperson - for a populist surge of working class people on either side of the Atlantic."
Still, the vote was a rebuke to the president, who urged Britain to remain in the EU during an April trip to London.
On Friday, the president attributed that decisions to "ongoing changes and challenges" posed by globalization. He told NPR the vote was also a response to a "a European project that was probably moving faster and without as much consensus as it should have."
"I think this will be a moment when all of Europe says, 'Let's take a breath and let's figure out how do we maintain some of our national identities, how do we preserve the benefits of integration and how do we deal with some of the frustrations that our own voters are feeling,' " Obama said.
In negotiating its exit from the EU, the president expressed hope the U.K. would end up with similar status to Norway, which has close trade ties with the union and also accepts some freedom of movement by immigrant workers.
Obama told NPR in an interview published Tuesday that the vote will "pause" European integration efforts, but said the basic security and economic relationship between the U.S. and Europe won't be disrupted.
"There's been a little bit of hysteria post-Brexit vote, as if somehow NATO's gone, the trans-Atlantic alliance is dissolving, and every country is rushing off to its own corner," he said. "That's not what's happening."
The president has sought to calm fears about the impact of last week's stunning Brexit vote.
World financial markets have tumbled in the days since due to uncertainty spurred by the United Kingdom's impending exit from the 28-nation political and economic partnership.
Britain has the world's fifth-largest economy and is the U.S.'s closest ally in Europe.
Obama said last week he respected the decision made by British voters, but insisted the "special relationship" between the two nations would not change.
The Brexit vote was fueled by populist concerns about Britain's ability to control its own immigration policy, a debate that has parallels to Donald Trump's rise in the presidential race.
But Obama knocked down the notion that a vote for Trump would satisfy those concerns.
"Mr. Trump embodies global elites and has taken full advantage of it his entire life," Obama said. "So, he's hardly a spokesperson - a legitimate spokesperson - for a populist surge of working class people on either side of the Atlantic."
Still, the vote was a rebuke to the president, who urged Britain to remain in the EU during an April trip to London.
On Friday, the president attributed that decisions to "ongoing changes and challenges" posed by globalization. He told NPR the vote was also a response to a "a European project that was probably moving faster and without as much consensus as it should have."
"I think this will be a moment when all of Europe says, 'Let's take a breath and let's figure out how do we maintain some of our national identities, how do we preserve the benefits of integration and how do we deal with some of the frustrations that our own voters are feeling,' " Obama said.
In negotiating its exit from the EU, the president expressed hope the U.K. would end up with similar status to Norway, which has close trade ties with the union and also accepts some freedom of movement by immigrant workers.
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