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, Voice of America writes.
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.
