Brexit Briefing: Will the next US president help Britain?

In a recent paper for the Centre for European Reform, Agata Gostynska-Jakubowska and Rem Korteweg said some Brexiters believe the US could twist arms in Brussels on behalf of their oldest European ally. "It is an article of faith among some Brexit supporters that America will ride to Britain’s rescue if relations with the EU get difficult," they say. Their view, however, is that a US intervention on this scale will not happen. True, a Clinton White House will be concerned about some issues, such as the fate of the Good Friday agreement and the risk of the emergence of a hard border in Ireland. But they add: “Though Washington has an obvious interest in avoiding a deterioration of EU-UK relations, it does not have an interest in taking sides.” They note that, as UK-EU relations have cooled, the Obama administration has strengthened diplomatic and security ties with Germany and France.