• published: 18 Mar 2017
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Trump defends his chilly summit with Merkel on Twitter NEWS: goo.gl/a3kAcQ President Donald Trump defended his chilly summit with Angela Merkel on Twitter Saturday, insisting it was a 'great meeting' - and immediately blasting Germany for owing what he said were 'vast sums of money' to NATO. He claimed that all reports criticizing their meeting were 'fake news' - the day after giving the German chancellor a lecture on immigration but no Oval Office handshake or warm words about her country. 'Despite what you have heard from the FAKE NEWS, I had a GREAT meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel,' Trump tweeted Saturday morning. 'Nevertheless, Germany owes vast sums of money to NATO & the United States must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defense it provides to Germany!' The mogul had his chilliest summit yet with a foreign leader as he met with the German chancellor for the first time Friday Talks began Friday with a warm welcome outside the West Wing but turned cold as Trump blew off an attempted handshake in the Oval Office and disagreed publicly with Merkel on almost every major international issue. Trump opened up a joint news conference that his daughter Ivanka attended with a slap at Merkel over her open-door refugee policy. Declaring that 'immigration is a privilege, not a right,' Trump said the safety of the countries' citizens 'must always come first without question.' He also pushed for her country to live up to its NATO commitment, stressing the 'need for our NATO allies to pay their fair share for the cost of defense.' Merkel told him it has always been her belief that it is 'much, much better to talk to one another and not about one another' - a reference to the many disparaging statements Trump made on the campaign trail about her leadership. Obama and Merkel eventually became close friends, but Trump struggled to put himself on similar footing with his German counterpart on Friday. He had previously accused her of 'ruining Germany' for allowing an influx of refugees from Syria into her country. As the two sat down for their first face-to-face meeting since his election, Trump called it a 'great honor' to meet her. Helping to break the ice at a joint meeting with business executives was Germany's support for apprenticeship programs, something Trump, the former 'Apprentice' star, couldn't help but point out. 'Both Germany and the United States are pioneering job-training programs,' Trump said. Here in the United States, companies have created revolutionary high-tech and online courses and, of course, for decades Germany has been a model for highly successful apprenticeship – that's a name I like, apprentice – apprenticeship programs,' Trump said. His praise of the German apprentice model was in contrast to his ripping of the nation's immigration policy. At one point, he predicted the German's would 'riot' over Merkel's policy of accepting refugees. The two sat awkwardly in the Oval Office earlier while photographers snapped photos. When Merkel asked for a handshake, Trump looked directly ahead and did not take the opportunity, missing the gesture of friendship, perhaps, as cameras loudly flashed. But Trump offered warm words for Merkel at the end of his remarks. 'I want to thank you very much. It’s a great honor to have you in the White House,' he said. 'It’s a great honor to have you in the United States, and I look forward to spending time with you,' Trump said. He repeated the greeting at the top of their joint news conference, but that was it. He did not say, as he had following meetings with other foreign leaders, that he expects the two of them to become great friends. Nor did he gush about his love for her mother country, even though his family has roots in Germany. Instead, he talked about the 'close friendship between America and Germany' that is built on the nations' 'shared values.' 'We cherish individual rights, we uphold the rule of law and we seek peace among nations. Our alliance is a symbol of strength and cooperation to the world. It is the foundation of a very, very hopeful future,' he said. Moments before Trump had already needled Merkel over her nation's overdue contributions to NATO. '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.' Talking about trade, Trump argued that millions of US workers have been 'left behind' in the age of globalization. 'The United States will respect historic institutions and we will also recognize the right of free people to manage their own destiny,' he stated. Trump was later cast as an 'isolationist' by a German reporter. 'I'm not an isolationist,' Trump replied, even though the question was