Trump Presses Merkel On Defense Spending In First Meeting

Rowling took to Twitter to post a picture of the meeting, where Trump can be seen staring at the floor with his lands locked between his knees, while Merkel looks at him with an undecipherable expression.

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. “I don’t think we regret anything”, Spicer told reporters Friday after Trump’s press conference with Merkel. Germany adopted an open-door policy to admit Syrian refugees, which Trump called a “catastrophic mistake”.

Trump has repeatedly suggested that he would be pushing for high import duties on luxury German vehicles, a move that has drawn concerns that Germany may retaliate with its own tariffs for American companies.

In his morning tweets, President Donald Trump claimed Saturday that Germany owed “vast sums of money” to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. Those who haven’t reached 2 percent, which is the majority of nations, don’t “owe” or have to make up shortfalls of the past.

He made the statement in a series of tweets from his Mar-a-Lago base in Florida on Saturday morning. However, only a handful of the 28 members actually meet that target.

None of the money is ever “paid” to the United States in any form or fashion.

He was also asked about a comment by White House press secretary Sean Spicer that the UK’s GCHQ spy agency had carried out wiretapping on Mr Trump during the USA election campaign. But even when they do increase their defense budgets, “no funds will be paid to the USA …”

Germany spent $37 billion on defense in 2016. Germany spends 1.23 per cent, but this is being increased. That’s a good thing. “But because their security requires it”. “It’s not a favor we do”. “Keeping Europe whole, free, and at peace, is vital U.S. interest”. The New York Times reports that one of the pundit’s sources was former intelligence officer Larry Johnson, who says he heard the claim from somebody else in the intelligence community. “No1 it was obsolete, because it was designed many, many years ago”. Economic leaders have increasingly warned that Trump’s “America First” policies and promises to limit or shut down trade with China and other nations could shake up foreign markets. And there’s nothing really wrong with goosing people about their underspends, but that detail of the money still not going to the USA is important.