- Title: Obama arrives in Berlin on European farewell tour
- Date: 16th November 2016
- Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (NOVEMBER 16, 2016) (REUTERS) MEDIA
- Embargoed: 1st December 2016 17:29
- Keywords: Barack Obama arrival Berlin airport
- Location: BERLIN, GERMANY
- City: BERLIN, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA00858P1DMV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: U.S. President Barack Obama arrived in Berlin on Wednesday (November 16) a day ahead of meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and then the leaders of France, Spain, Italy and the U.K.
Air Force One touched down at the German capital's Tegel airport before Obama headed to the Hotel Adlon next to the Brandenburg Gate, where the president will stay two nights before leaving on Friday (November 18) afternoon.
Obama's visit is part of a farewell tour of Europe in which he is seeking to reassure European leaders concerned about the implications of a Donald Trump presidency.
Before travelling to Berlin, Obama kicked off the trip in Athens, where Obama warned against a rise in nationalism and said a backlash against globalization had stoked populist movements at home and abroad.
Obama said distrust of elites and governing institutions had fed success in the U.S. election for Senator Bernie Sanders, who challenged Hillary Clinton in a drawn-out Democratic primary contest, and for Trump, a former reality TV star who bested the former secretary of state in the U.S. presidential race.
Though he rejected a direct comparison between the U.S. election and Britain's "Brexit" referendum in June to leave the European Union, Obama said the common theme of antipathy to globalization was at play, spurring populist movements on the left and right in Europe.
Trump garnered support on the back of promises to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico, ban Muslims temporarily from entering the United States and rip up trade deals that he said had hurt American workers.
Obama, who campaigned vigourously for Clinton, opposed those positions and is fighting now to keep his legacy accomplishments on healthcare, climate change, and nuclear diplomacy alive in the face of Trump's promises to dismantle them once he takes office in January. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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