The set agenda included discussions on NATO, fighting ISIS terrorism and resolving Ukraine’s conflict, all matters that require close cooperation between the US and Germany. The initial meeting was postponed from Tuesday because of a snowstorm.
The only common ground between German leader Angela Merkel and president Trump: They both had been wiretapped by former President Barack Obama, Trump told the visiting chancellor.
Merkel looked surprised and quite shaken by Trump’s statement. She pulled a face at the American president. But German media downplayed the differences, eager to avoid inflaming the war of words that could eventually cost Germany dearly.
Trump highlighted the need for burden-sharing in NATO during the visit. Not only did he demand increased military spending from members, but also reparations for past American contributions.
“Many nations owe vast sums of money from past years, and it is very unfair to the United States,” he said. “These nations must pay what they owe.”
On immigration, he said: “Immigration is a privilege, not a right, and the safety of our citizens must always come first, without question.”
Merkel called for “open-minded” globalisation instead. She extolled open borders as one of the “great strengths” of the European Union.
But the news conference suggested that both leaders have little in common, other than a desire to avoid exchanging open criticisms in public.
German Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries meanwhile, has said Berlin would take Washington to court if it were to impose a border tax on German imports.
Zypries warned Washington against unleashing a trade war, saying Berlin would take legal action before the World Trade Organization (WTO), Zypries told Deutschlandfunk public radio on Friday.
Republicans in Congress are pushing for a revamp of the US corporate tax system. A new “border adjustment” system would see US imports subject to a tax of reportedly 20 percent and export revenues exempted.
Last year the United States was Germany’s biggest export customer, importing 107 billion euros, but Trump has fingered Germany and China for unfair trade policies, accusing them of manipulating their currencies to make their goods less expensive.
Merkel was accompanied on her visit by a trade delegation that included top executives of BMW and Siemens, employers of tens of thousands of Americans, something she hoped would be the ace up her sleeve as many live in Southern states that Trump won in the US election.
Donald Trump apparently also refused to shake Angela Merkel’s hand during a joint appearance at the White House. Even when she suggested it and leaned over to her host, he refused to budge and remained sitting with his hands clasped.
In 2016 Trump tore into the German chancellor, accusing her of “ruining” Germany for allowing an influx of migrants from Syria.
“You watch what happens to Angela Merkel, who I always thought of as a very good leader until she did this. I don’t know what went wrong with her,” Trump said at an August campaign rally in Virginia before he was elected. “What went wrong? Angela, what happened?”
In January Trump repeated in a newspaper interview that Merkel had made a “catastrophic mistake” with her open border policy.
In a joint interview with the Times of London and the German newspaper Bild, Trump also said the European Union had become “a vehicle for Germany” and predicted that more EU member states would exit.
“I think she made one very catastrophic mistake, and that was taking all of these illegals,” Trump said. “And nobody even knows where they come from. So I think she made a catastrophic mistake, very bad mistake,” Trump added.
