Trump and Obama meet in White House to begin transition talks

The current and incoming presidents of the United States met in the White House on Thursday to discuss the transition of power from Barack Obama to newly-elected Donald Trump.

After an unexpected victory in Tuesday's election against Democrat Hillary Clinton, Trump immediately began making plans for his entry into the Oval Office in January 2017.

Having campaigned vigorously on Clinton's side of the campaign, Obama had aimed several attacks on the Republican candidate in the lead-up to election day, while Trump led the "birther" movement against Obama, which claimed that the outgoing president was not born in the US.

Trump also travelled to the lawmaking chambers of the Senate and House of Representatives to meet with key Republican leaders, many of whom refused to support him during the presidential race.

The meeting is said to have lasted over 90 minutes, despite initial plans that it would take around 15 minutes only, and officials from the White House said it was a civil meeting.

Obama pledged his team would do everything possible to ensure Trump is a success.

"Most of all, I want to emphasise to you, Mr President-elect, we are now going to want to do everything we can to help you succeed because if you succeed, the country succeeds," Obama told him.

Markets continue to attempt to deal with the fallout from Trump's election on Tuesday, as the Dow Jones Industrials hit a record high of 18,811 on Thursday.

Trump praised Obama after the meeting between the pair. "He has explained some of the difficulties, some of the highflying assets and some of the really great things that have been achieved. So Mr President it was a great honour being with you and I look forward to being with you many, many more times," he said.