Ted Cruz: Post-Brexit UK Will Be ‘Front Of The *LINE*’ If I Am President… Obama ‘Slapped You In The Face’

Ted Cruz has hit out at U.S. President Barack Obama’s comments that Britain would be “back of the queue” for the trade deal with the United States if it leaves the European Union.

Writing in The Times of London, Mr Cruz says:

Instead of standing with our allies President Obama routinely hurls insults at them. Sadly, it happened in London last Friday, when the President of the United States informed the British people they would be at the “back of the queue” for a US-UK free trade deal if they dared to vote to leave the EU on June 23. This was nothing less than a slap in the face of British self-determination as the president, typically, elevated an international organisation over the rights of a sovereign people.

I believe Britain’s future in Europe is a matter for the British people to decide. If Britain does vote to leave the EU, the United States should respect that decision — and treat it as an opportunity for our own country.

If I am elected to be the next president of the United States, we will ensure that the special relationship is strengthened rather than weakened, and that America works closely with Great Britain to address the myriad challenges faced by the free world, from Islamist terrorism to a resurgent Russia.

If Brexit takes place, Britain will be at the front of the line for a free trade deal with America, not at the back. There is a vast amount of trade, commerce and investment between our two nations. And, as I explained when I delivered the Margaret Thatcher Freedom Lecture in 2014: “Such an agreement between the US and the UK would be an opportunity to mutually deregulate our economies — in contrast to the TTIP, which is proving an exercise in ‘harmonising’ regulations . . . Deregulation is a powerful, liberating economic force that can lead to significant economic growth — something Lady Thatcher understood all too well. Such an agreement can also be an aspirational model for other nations, encouraging them to look to bedrock principles of conservatism and individual liberty.”

In marked contrast, Barack Obama has appeased America’s enemies, and has taken every opportunity to curry favour with those who seek to threaten our interests. The reality is that Obama reserves his harshest language for our friends while offering generosity and platitudes to our enemies.

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