Obama gathers key Europe leaders amid questions

Published 9:22 am Friday, November 18, 2016

BERLIN — President Barack Obama joined the leaders of key European countries in Germany today to discuss an array of security and economic challenges facing the trans-Atlantic partners as the U.S. prepares for President-elect Donald Trump to take office in January.

Obama’s meeting with the leaders of Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Spain was likely his last in such a setting before he leaves office. The session expands on lengthy talks he held the day before with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Gathered around a circular table in Merkel’s Chancellery, the leaders exchanged pleasantries but made no substantive remarks as reporters were allowed in briefly for the start of the meeting. A number of the leaders planned to deliver statements or take questions from reporters following the meeting.

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Since Obama’s arrival on Wednesday on his sixth and last trip to Germany as president, he and Merkel have focused several meetings on issues of globalization and trans-Atlantic cooperation. The talks come largely in the context of what the election of Donald Trump will mean to efforts to seek peace in Ukraine and Syria, the strength of the NATO alliance, trade agreements, efforts to fight climate change, and other pressing matters.

At a news conference with Obama on Thursday, Merkel diplomatically said she was approaching the incoming Trump administration “with an open mind.”