US not interested in trade deal with post-Brexit UK, senior official warns

Withdrawal from the EU would leave UK trading with the US on the same terms as China, Brazil, and India

The US would not welcome a post-Brexit UK with open arms, a senior American official has suggested, casting doubts on the arguments made by EU sceptics.
Michael Froman, the US trade representative, said that the world's largest economy was "not in the market" for free trade agreements (FTAs) with other countries.

His comments came as the UK heads towards a referendum on its membership of the EU, due to take place no later than 2017.
"I think it's absolutely clear that Britain has a greater voice at the trade table being part of the EU, being part of a larger economic entity," Mr Froman told Reuters.
"We're not particularly in the market for FTAs with individual countries. We're building platforms ... that other countries can join over time."
The US is the UK's greatest consumer of exports after the EU, snapping up more than $54bn (£35bn) in goods last year.
"We have no FTA with the UK so they would be subject to the same tariffs - and other trade-related measures - as China, or Brazil or India," Mr Froman said.

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Advocates of a withdrawal from the EU have suggested that an independent UK would be able to forge new bilateral trade deals outside of the political union. 
Credit ratings agencies Moody's and Standard & Poor's have both warned that the UK's economy could suffer in the event of the UK withdrawing from the EU.
At present, the UK is not able to negotiate its own deals while being a member of the EU. Opponents of the EU have suggested that the UK might make better deals after leaving the bloc.
Mr Froman's intervention suggests that this process might not be achieved as easily as supporters of Brexit had imagined.