Obama: Trump committed to upholding North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

“These global agreements, the tradition has been, you carry them forward across administrations”, Obama said, “particularly if you find they’re good for us”.

Obama’s trip, planned when it seemed certain Hillary Clinton would win, had been created to reassure the world that the USA had regained its footing after a toxic campaign that unnerved foreign capitals, noted Heather Conley, a Europe scholar at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. However, he did offer up a candid take on how the office will change him.

While President Obama underscored the element of continuity through Republican and Democratic administrations, a memo prepared by the transition team of the incoming President said he would break from the globalist consensus on trade shared by functionaries of both parties. “And so one of the messages I will be able to deliver is his commitment to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the transatlantic alliance”. Obama called Trump’s rise “powerful stuff” in his first post-election press conference, saying “this office has a way of waking you up”.

“Reality has a way of asserting itself”, he added.

U.S. President Barack Obama’s last overseas visit while in office, which became a last-minute conciliatory trip after Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential elections, will in the end reassure nobody.

We had a very cordial conversation, he said.

“Do I have concerns?” he asked rhetorically.

HORSLEY: Now, of course that’s not the only thing European leaders are concerned about. I think he’s going to try as best he can to make sure that he delivers, not only for the people who voted for him, but for the people at large. But, the federal government and our democracy is not a speed boat, it’s an ocean liner. “I think there was a really robust debate about the merits of the Iran deal before it was completed”.

Speaking in Athens, Obama said he recognized an “anger and fear in the American population” over threats of mechanization and globalization, but that Republican officials didn’t use facts when making their case about the U.S. economy.

Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham as press secretary.

Separately, intelligence officials said they were surprised by a request to give high security clearance to some members of Trump’s family.

During his campaign trail, the Republican President-elect was highly critical of the worldwide military alliance, claiming many of its allies were not spending the required amount on their defence and that the United States was paying a disproportionate amount in comparison.

Both the British decision to exit the European Union and the election of Mr Trump last week reflected “people’s fears that their children won’t do as well as they have”.

The New York mogul has also spent time calling world leaders as he begins to develop ties with America’s allies – and adversaries.

The group has always been the biggest challenge for the U.S., he said.

“The statements are fine”, Greenblatt said, “but we want to see action”.