WASHINGTON – In an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union today, U.S. Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, anticipated the U.S. would draw closer to the United Kingdom in the aftermath of the referendum to leave the European Union. He also pushed back on previous threats from President Obama that the UK’s departure from the EU would force to them to the “back of the queue” on negotiating future trade agreements with Europe and the U.S.
“To make comments about them going to the back of the queue, sort of sophomoric threats, I mean…if anything, my guess is the response of the American people is going to be to draw closer to…[the] United Kingdom,” said Corker. “[C]hange is under way, and it's our job…to make something very, very good come out of this, and that's my goal.”
He also argued that the dynamics that shaped the outcome of the UK’s referendum reflect similar anxieties among the American people about government not responding to their needs.
“[T]here's something happening in our society,” he added. “It's happening in Western societies, where there's tremendous anxiety over economic stagnation, the whole issue of refugees and immigration that's changing the context of countries, and then this faceless bureaucracy that's not really responding to people.”
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