Saturday morning, Trump claimed on Twitter the two had a “GREAT” meeting before berating Germany, claiming they owe the USA money for defense, which is not how North Atlantic Treaty Organisation works.
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The list of possible topics for their talk is long: NATO, the United Nations, the fight against the Islamic State, the situation in the Middle East, Afghanistan, North Korea, climate change and defense.
The controversy was created by Trump himself, in a series of tweets early on a Saturday morning, March 4.
Deutsche Presse-Agentur reporter Kristina Dunz’s robust questioning of the President during a joint press conference with Chancellor Angela Merkel led Mr Trump to respond: “Nice, friendly reporter”.
Comments like that have prompted some of Trump’s fiercest critics to declare Merkel the new “leader of the free world” – a moniker normally taken up by the occupant of the White House.
During Friday’s press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Donald Trump repeated the big idea about trade that’s been floating around his White House lately.
Trump’s public appearances with Merkel betrayed an awkwardness between the two leaders, including during two widely remarked upon appearances in the White House.
“Let me be very clear: the policy of strategic patience has ended”, said Tillerson.
In a joint press conference on Friday, Trump expressed “strong support” for North Atlantic Treaty Organisation but reiterated his belief that member nations do not contribute a “fair share”.
Previously, Trump said Merkel was “ruining Germany” and “made a catastrophic mistake” by allowing more than a million refugees and migrants in recent years amid the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean Sea. In turn, Trump will press Merkel for Germany’s commitment to abide by a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation guideline to spend 2 percent of their gross domestic product on their military budget, according to the White House.
Germany now spends 1.23 per cent of its GDP on defence, but it is being increased.
Merkel has acknowledged that Germany needs to spend more on its military, but has indicated it would take time to do so.
Her visit had been scheduled for Tuesday but was postponed due to a snowstorm. Trump is the third USA president that Merkel will be negotiating with, following George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
Trump and Merkel have differed publicly on a number of issues, most notably immigration.
During a joint news conference, Mr Trump rejected the notion in Europe that his America First agenda means he is an isolationist.
The two leaders tried to express their common bonds but showed minimal rapport in their first encounter, a departure from Mrs Merkel’s warm relations with Mr Obama during his eight years as president.
“She has all this experience”. She’s the most important leader in Europe. “I’m saying, right now there are many countries that have not fulfilled their obligations to us”. She further added that both the USA and Germany were expecting “that something good comes out of it for their own people”.
“But hopefully we can even it out. We don’t want victory; we want fairness”.
The two parties, now partners in Merkel’s “grand coalition”, have been running neck-and-neck in the polls since the SPD nominated former European Parliament president Martin Schulz as its candidate for chancellor in the September 24 federal election.
“We said nothing”, he said. “We’ve been dreaming of this since I’ve been around – since you and I were drinking at a keg”. We’ll soon be at a level that we, perhaps, have never been before.
She said that Turkish politicians wanting to make appearances in Germany need to openly disclose who will appear and for what objective, and then follow Germany’s laws. Merkel has struck a hard line over incursions into Ukraine and the Kremlin’s support for Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad. It seems the entire world understands the questionable things Trump has said and done since running and taking office.
Merkel, who addressed the media through an interpreter, said: “It’s always better to talk to one another than about one another.” .
Trump has long criticised North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. A number of Republicans have also distanced themselves from the wiretapping allegations.
Again we see the open palm gesture by Mr Trump in a “now it’s over to you” handover. German media report that she has been studying Trump’s speeches and interviews to prepare for the visit.
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“She wants to maintain the European Union, she wants to maintain North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, she’s wary of Putin”.
