President Obama said Monday that Donald Trump committed to maintaining the US alliance with NATO during their White House sitdown last week — despite slamming the pact during the campaign.
Obama said he would bring that message to foreign leaders on his final overseas trip as president this week, stopping in Greece, Germany and Peru.
“In my conversation with the president-elect, he expressed a great interest in maintaining our strategic relationships. So, one of the messages I will be able to deliver is his commitment to NATO and the trans-Atlantic alliance,” he said.
During the campaign, Trump repeatedly questioned the value of the longstanding alliance, and hinted he would pull back from it if European allies didn’t foot more of the bill.
The president repeated his vow to ensure a smooth transition — but also took a thinly veiled shot at the harsh rhetoric employed by Trump and his supporters.
Obama declared that “norms of civility and tolerance and a commitment to reason and facts and analysis [are] part of what makes this country work” as a functioning democracy.
“And as long as I’m president, we are going to uphold those norms and cherish and uphold those ideals,” he said.
But Obama further said he believed that Trump wanted to be president for all Americans.
“I think he’s going to try as best he can to make sure that he delivers, not only for the people who voted for him, but for the people at large,” he said.
“This office has a way of waking you up.”