After accusing German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the campaign trail of “ruining Germany” by welcoming refugees, President Trump will have his first face-to-face meeting with the German leader at the White House on Tuesday.
The two were expected to discuss strengthening the NATO alliance, collaborating to fight terrorism and taking steps to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, White House officials said Friday.
Trump’s first encounter will be aimed at building a personal rapport with a European partner who was among former President Barack Obama’s strongest allies and international confidantes, according to the officials, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity despite the president’s recent criticism of anonymous sources.
Merkel, however, will need to look past Trump’s past comments, when he accused her of “ruining Germany” because of her acceptance of refugees. Trump often claimed that his Democratic presidential rival, Hillary Clinton, was running to be “America’s Angela Merkel” and argued that Germany was in the midst of crisis.
White House officials said Trump would press Germany to set an example on the need for NATO members to spend more on defence, which Germany has resisted. NATO’s 28-member countries committed in 2014 to spending 2 per cent of their gross domestic product on defence within a decade but only the US and four other members of the post-World War II military coalition are in compliance.
Trump referred to NATO as “obsolete” prior to his inauguration. But, he has since told European leaders he agrees on the “fundamental importance” of the military alliance, a message that was reinforced by Vice President Mike Pence during his recent trip to Europe.
