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(CNN)The last time President Barack Obama took questions from reporters abroad, he dismissed Donald Trump as an “unqualified” peddler of “wacky ideas,” expressing confidence during his September swing through Asia that voters would ultimately reject the candidate who ran so vocally against his own agenda.
Now, as he departs for his final scheduled overseas trip as president, Obama faces an altogether different scenario: Trump is his successor, and instead of a cheering farewell tour, he’s embarking upon a reassurance mission for deeply shaken foreign allies.
At stops in Greece, Germany and Peru, Obama will be left explaining the US election results to foreign counterparts whose anxieties about Trump he’s been fueling for more than a year by denouncing Trump from podiums across the globe. Obama must now convince foreign governments and populations that the future isn’t as bleak as he once predicted.
Speaking from the White House briefing room before he departed, an upbeat Obama insisted that he would deliver a message of confidence in the future of transatlantic ties during his talks this week.
Merkel finds herself in a stronger position than other US allies in Europe, including France’s Francois Hollande, who is deeply unpopular and faces powerful right-wing forces; Italy’s Matteo Renzi, who has expended political capital on proposed constitutional reforms that face a referendum vote next month; and the United Kingdom’s Theresa May, who is occupied with navigating Britain’s exit from the EU.
But even Merkel is facing a backlash from the right over her policy on refugees. There’s little expectation that Trump will provide her the same political backing Obama has as she attempts to map Europe’s future.
“We must adjust to the fact thatUS foreign policy will be less predictable, at least for a considerable time,” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told Der Spiegel this week. “It is to be hoped that in government, not everything is eaten so hot as it was cooked in the election campaign. But the expectations that have been aroused in the American population are huge.”
Obama ends his swing in Peru for a meeting of Pacific leaders, his final attempt to cement his eastward shift in foreign policy focus, even as a centerpiece of that plan — the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal — appears dead.
He’ll meet for a final time with China’s President Xi Jinping as ties between Washington and Beijing enter a deeply uncertain phase. Trump has threatened a more pugilistic approach, vowing to brand China a currency manipulator during his first 100 days in office.
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