In terms of transatlantic relations, the President said continued EU membership provides “greater confidence” for the US.
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President Obama in an interview with the BBC said that the issue on which he feels “most frustrated” is the failure to adopt tougher gun-control laws despite a series of mass shootings from movie theaters to elementary schools to military installations to a church.
“We want to make sure that the United Kingdon continues to have that influnce”, Mr Obama told the BBC, in his latest comments reinforcing the importance Washington places on the UK remaining in the EU.
The British television network said that Obama also said that a political solution was needed in Syria so that forces could concentrate on defeating the Islamic State.
In the interview with the BBC he also described the UK as America’s “best partner” and congratulated Prime Minister David Cameron on meeting the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation target of spending only two per cent of GDP on defence.
He was speaking to the BBC at the White House before departing for Kenya, where he begins a short tour of Africa.
He said: “If you look at the number of Americans killed since 9/11 by terrorism, it’s less than 100. If you look at the number that have been killed by gun violence, it’s in the tens of thousands”, he said.
While he has pressed for stricter gun control during his presidency, Obama has been unable to make any significant changes to the laws due to opposition in Congress.
He says the nation’s inability to resolve the issue is “distressing” but that he intends to keep working on it.
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The president conceded, however, that rising concerns regarding police brutality, race and mass incarcerations were “legitimate and deserve intense attention”. “But if you look at my daughters’ generation, they have an attitude about race that’s entirely different than even my generation”.
