President Obama urged calm following Britain's vote to exit the European Union.
In an interview broadcast Tuesday on National Public Radio, the president, who opposed Brexit, said the spirit of international cooperation would not be lost in the wake of Britain's historic decision.
"There's been a little bit of hysteria post-Brexit vote, as if somehow NATO's gone, the trans-Atlantic alliance is dissolving, and every country is rushing off to its own corner," Obama told NPR. "That's not what's happening. What's happening is that you had a European project that was probably moving faster and without as much consensus as it should have," he said.
Obama Added that the Brexit vote provides a moment for Europe to reflect on how to balance the voices of nationalism without foregoing integration.
"The basic core values of Europe, the tenets of liberal, market-based Democracies — those aren't changing. The interests that we have in common in Europe remain the same," Obama said. "I don't anticipate there's going to be major cataclysmic changes as a result of this."
