World leaders must heed people's economic fears in the midst of globalisation, Obama says
Updated
Drawing a broad lesson from the election of Donald Trump, US President Barack Obama says world leaders need to pay attention to people's very real fears of economic dislocation and inequality in the midst of globalisation.
Key points:
- Obama tells Greek news conference that people's economic fears must be dealt with
- Tsipras says criticising Trump is different now that he is the US President-elect
- Obama seeks to reassure Greece leadership of US commitment to NATO
- Anti-Obama protesters take to the streets
"The more aggressively and effectively we deal with those issues, the less those fears may channel themselves into counterproductive approaches that can pit people against each other," Mr Obama said as he opened the last foreign tour of his presidency.
Mr Obama, in a joint news conference with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, said both Mr Trump's election and the British vote to leave the European Union reflected the need to deal with "people's fears that their children won't do as well as they have".
"Sometimes people just feel as if we want to try something and see if we can shake things up," Mr Obama said.
He seemed sceptical that "the new prescriptions being offered" would satisfy the frustrations and anger evident in the election.
And he played a bit of defence, saying that his agenda over the past eight years had dealt with economic issues head on and "the country's indisputably better off".
Mr Obama added pointedly that some of the rhetoric seen in the elections was "pretty troubling and not necessarily connected to the facts."
For his part, Mr Tsipras said he had refrained from rushing to criticise Mr Trump as some other European leaders had done, saying that the Republican's "aggressive manner" as a candidate might be different as president.
He predicted that "in the near future not much is going to change in the relations between the EU, Greece and the United States of America."
Mr Tsipras added that it was one thing to criticise Mr Trump during the campaign and another thing now that Mr Trump will be a "major player" in the world.
Greece confident Trump 'will continue on same NATO path'
Mr Obama earlier offered the Greeks reassuring words about the US commitment to NATO, saying Democratic and Republican administrations alike recognise the importance of the alliance to the trans-Atlantic relationship.
He told Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos that a strong NATO is of "utmost importance" and would provide "significant continuity even as we see a transition in government in the United States".
Mr Pavlopoulos, for his part, thanked Mr Obama for US support of the Greek people in a time of social and economic crisis, and said he was confident that Mr Trump "will continue on the same path".
Mr Trump's election has generated significant unease in Europe because of his tough talk during the campaign suggesting the US might pull out of the NATO alliance if other countries do not pay more.
Mr Obama's reassurances on Tuesday reflect an attempt to ease the deep concerns about Mr Trump and the future of America's treaty alliances.
Mr Obama's visit to Greece marks the first by a sitting US president since Bill Clinton in 1999.
Thousands of anti-Obama protesters take to streets
Meanwhile, minor clashes have broken out in Athens after left-wing demonstrators protesting Mr Obama tried to break a police cordon and were repelled with tear gas.
No injuries or arrests were reported.
Greek police say about 3,000 anarchists, left-wing group supporters, and students were taking part in the march through central Athens.
A second planned Athens protest by Communist party supporters is due to start later on Tuesday (local time).
Police will block the marchers from the part of the city where Mr Obama will be, as authorities have banned all demonstrations in a wide swathe of central Athens.
Greek authorities have deployed more than 5,000 police for Mr Obama's two-day visit.
The riot squad is on high alert for violence, and an armed anarchist group has called for "attacks and clashes" to disrupt the visit.
There is a strong anti-American tradition among Greek leftists, who still resent US support for Greece's 1967-74 military dictatorship.
AP
Topics: world-politics, us-elections, greece, united-states
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