Obama to calm world leaders on Trump presidency during last major trip abroad

It was supposed to be his grand valedictory tour. Now President Barack Obama must use his last major trip abroad to try to calm shocked world leaders about the outcome of the US election, and what comes next when Donald Trump is president.

Trump’s unforeseen victory has triggered pangs of uncertainty at home and grave concerns around the world. Though Obama has urged unity and said the US must root for Trump’s success, the president’s trip to Greece, Germany and Peru forces him to confront global concerns about the future of America’s leadership.

“In my conversation with the president-elect, he expressed a great interest in maintaining our core strategic relationships,” Obama told a news conference before his departure. “So one of the messages I will be able to deliver is his commitment to NATO and the trans-Atlantic alliance.”

“One of the most important functions that I can serve at this stage ... is to let them know that there is no weakening of resolve when it comes to America’s commitment to maintaining a strong and robust NATO relationship and a recognition that those alliances aren’t just good for Europe, they’re good for the United States and they’re vital for the world,” he said.

“The mood of Greek people for this political change is ‘wait and see,’” Nikos Pappas, a minister of state with close ties to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, said in an interview. There was surprise in Greece, as elsewhere, about Trump’s victory, but he added: “Everybody would be expecting the US government is going to continue to be on our side.”