Obama, EU leaders agree to maintain cooperation via NATO after Trump victory

[November 18, 2016]  BERLIN (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and European leaders agreed in Berlin on Friday that they needed to keep working together as part of multilateral bodies like NATO and to press ahead with the transatlantic agenda, the White House said in a statement.

Their agreement comes after the election victory of U.S. Republican Donald Trump, who said during his campaign that if Russia attacked a NATO member, he would consider whether the targeted country had met its defense commitments before providing military aid.

"The leaders agreed on the necessity of working collectively to move the transatlantic agenda forward, particularly on bringing stabilization to the Middle East and North Africa, as well as securing diplomatic resolution to the conflicts in Syria and eastern Ukraine," the White House said in the statement.

 President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel meet at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, November 18, 2016. REUTERS/Kay Nietfeld/POOL

"The leaders also affirmed the importance of continued cooperation through multilateral institutions, including NATO," the White House added.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Writing by Michelle Martin)

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