Official White House Photo by Pete Souza(ATHENS, Greece) — President Obama will address the results of the U.S. election within the broader context of globalization during a speech Wednesday in Athens — a setting rich in symbolic value as the birthplace of democracy.
“Part of what the president will discuss is this need to respond effectively to the issues that have been raised by globalization,” Deputy National Security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters last week. “And that will include, frankly, acknowledgement of our election results, the Brexit election results.”
The president will address both the positive and negative impacts of globalization, according to Rhodes.
On the campaign trail, Trump attacked the nation’s trade policies, arguing that globalization has “made the financial elite who donate to politicians very, very wealthy … but it has left millions of our workers with nothing but poverty and heartache.”
Trump has threatened to pull out of NAFTA and kill the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which was negotiated by Obama.
Rhodes acknowledged that the nation’s trade agreements aren’t perfect.
“We’ve seen in a number of countries that there are, of course, benefits that have come from globalization and automation,” he said. “But at the same time, there are challenges as people feel like decisions are made beyond their control, in some cases, as economies change, as inequality has persisted and, in some cases, has grown.”
He continued, “So even with all the progress we’ve made, we recognize, no matter what had happened in November, that more work needed to be done, and so I think that will be reflected in the president’s speech.”
The president is currently spending two days in Greece before heading to Germany, where he will meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other European leaders. He then heads to Peru for the final stop of his final foreign tour as president.
Copyright © 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.