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After voters in the United Kingdom chose in a referendum yesterday to leave the European Union (EU), Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA) today sent letters to President Barack Obama and United States Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman urging them to begin the process of negotiating a bilateral Free Trade Agreement with the United Kingdom.  This follows October 2015 comments in which Froman said, “We're not particularly in the market for FTAs with individual countries.  We're building platforms ... that other countries can join over time.”  He also said, “We have no FTA with the U.K. so they would be subject to the same tariffs – and other trade-related measures – as China, or Brazil or India.”  In a letter sent to the President in early November 2015, Griffith expressed his concerns about Froman’s comments.

Upon sending the letters to Froman and President Obama today, Griffith said, “We must not punish our ally and friend Great Britain for having voted to leave the EU.  Instead, we must work to continue the strong relationship between our two nations, and proceed with granting it trade agreements similar to those granted the nations of the EU.”

The letters to President Obama and Froman can be found here.

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