Obama Says Brexit May Mean 10-Year Wait for U.K. Trade Deal

President Barack Obama leaned in further on his warning to the British electorate against embracing a so-called Brexit from the European Union, saying it could take as long as 10 years before the U.K. and the U.S. negotiated a new trade agreement.

“The U.K. would not be able to negotiate something with the United States faster than the EU,” Obama told the BBC in an interview broadcast on Saturday. “We wouldn’t abandon our efforts to negotiate a trade deal with our largest trading partner, the European market. But rather, it could be five years from now, 10 years from now before we were able to actually get something done.”