Trump to Merkel: We were both wiretapped under Obama

During their joint news conference, Trump – who has criticised North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as “obsolete” – demanded that America’s allies in the military alliance pay back “vast sums of money from past years”.

Mrs Merkel attempted conciliation on economic issues. But no handshake was far weirder.

The meeting between two of the world’s most powerful leaders got off to an awkward start as Donald Trump apparently refused to shake hands with Angela Merkel in the Oval Office.

To be fair, it’s possible Trump simply couldn’t hear Merkel during the earlier photo op above the rapid fire of photographers’ shutters and voices of aides. The same reporter asked Merkel how risky she thought the President’s trade policies were.

The two leaders also seemed on entirely different pages when it came to trade and immigration, even as they tried to paper over their differences. “Obamacare is a disaster”.

“I was gratified to know that the president underlined how important he thinks North Atlantic Treaty Organisation is”, she said. “Obamacare will fail very, very soon”. You look at China, virtually any country we do business with, it’s not exactly good for our workers. “We Europeans have our fate in our own hands”, she said. “We need to be fair to each other”.

Merkel has become a leading advocate for refugees in Europe, with Germany accepting over 1 million displaced people.

“I believe that the president has clearly set out his philosophy as to what trade agreements have to bring about for the American side as well”.

“A nice, friendly reporter”, Trump quipped.

“Many nations owe vast sums of money from past years and it is very unfair to the US”.

Mr. Trump said that he didn’t know what news outlet the reporter represented but that the claim he was an isolationist was “another example of false news”.

Mr Trump said Mr Spicer was merely quoting a Fox News analyst when he made the comments.

However, Trump’s comparison on Friday suggests that continues to believe the Obama administration was literally listening in on his calls. “I didn’t make opinion on it; that was statement made by a very talented lawyer on Fox [News]”.

“At least we have something in common, perhaps”, Trump said casually, referring to 2013 reports that the USA was monitoring Merkel’s cellphone conversations.

Alexandra Rosenmann is an AlterNet associate editor.