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Obama to Reassure EU Allies, China on Final Trip

by Cindy Saine

   WHITE HOUSE --

   Barack Obama's final scheduled foreign trip as president of the United
   States is likely to take on a more sobering tone after the surprise
   election of Republican Donald Trump, whose vows to abandon some of
   Obama's priorities has caused concern in many parts of the world.
   Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes briefed reporters on
   Obama's trip on a conference call Friday.

   Rhodes conceded that Trump's unexpected election and its impact on
   bilateral relations and international agreements will likely be the
   primary topic on world leaders' minds. President Obama first travels to
   Greece, where he will visit the Parthenon and deliver a major speech in
   Athens on the challenges raised by globalization.

   From there, Obama heads to Germany, where he will hold a bilateral
   meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel and a joint press conference on
   Thursday. He will also meet with the leaders of Britain and France in
   Berlin. From there, Obama travels to Lima, Peru for the Asia-Pacific
   Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. On the sidelines of that summit,
   Obama will have a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping
   on Saturday and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Sunday.
   Rhodes was asked repeatedly if the trip would be overshadowed by the
   election of Trump, who has vowed to undo many of what Obama considers
   his major foreign policy accomplishments, such as the Paris agreement
   on climate change and the deal to curb Tehran's nuclear program.

   President Barack Obama shakes hands with President-elect Donald Trump
   in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Nov. 10, 2016.

   NATO alliance
   Rhodes said the Obama administration strongly believes in the
   importance of these agreements, but the president-elect will speak for
   himself and make his own decisions once he takes office in January.
   However, Rhodes pointed out that some of the agreements are
   international, not bilateral, and some, such as the North Atlantic
   Treaty Organization (NATO), involve crucial alliances that have been a
   cornerstone of global stability.

   "There are certain things that have endured for decades under
   administrations of different parties. The trans-Atlantic alliance is
   certainly one of those. The NATO alliance is certainly one of those.
   We've taken steps during our time in office to enforce the NATO
   alliance to reassure eastern European allies to move significant
   military personnel and equipment to our eastern flank to make sure that
   those nations are reassured and also to work with NATO as we counter
   terrorism and deal with refugee flows."

   President-elect Trump has shaken some NATO allies by questioning
   whether Washington should defend them because some have not "fulfilled
   their obligations" to the United States.

   German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen (C) talks with Greek
   Defense Minister Panos Kammenos (2nd R) at a family photo during a NATO
   defense ministers meeting at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels,
   Belgium Feb. 10, 2016.

   Strategic landscape
   Rhodes said the national security team will work closely with Trump's
   team to brief them on the strategic landscape of the world so they will
   be able to get off to a quick start.

   On the APEC summit, Wally Adeyemo, the deputy national security adviser
   for international economics, conceded that the fate of the
   Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement will likely be up to
   President-elect Trump and Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch
   McConnell. He said Obama continues to believe these trade agreements
   make sense because China will not stop working on regional agreements.