'At Least We Have Something in Common': Inside Trump, Merkel's 1st Face-to-Face Meeting

CBN
03-17-2017

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WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel made a concerted effort Friday to focus on what the two leaders view as their one shared area of interest: being wiretapped.

"At least we have something in common," Trump said to Merkel when asked by a reporter about his claim that he was wiretapped by former President Barack Obama.

The question came during a joint press conference with the two leaders. Merkel is in Washington for her first face-to-face meeting with the new U.S. president.

"It is better to talk to each other than about each other," Merkel said in her opening remarks.

The two leaders couldn't be more different in personality or political style. Even so, they appeared to be focusing on places where they agree while having frank discussions about the areas where they disagree.

Merkel and Trump held a listening session with both American and German business leaders before their press conference.

Merkel says German companies have created 810,000 jobs in the United States with a direct investment of $270 billion.

President Trump took note of Germany's successful apprentice programs. "That's a word I like," the president said referring to his hit show, "The Apprentice."

He affirmed his commitment to NATO, but also reminded Germany and other countries who aren't paying the agreed upon 2 percent of their gross domestic product that their behavior can't continue.

Merkel followed by saying Germany will pay the full amount going forward.

The pair agreed to continue working together to combat "Islamist terrorism," as Merkel put it, along with their shared military commitment in Afghanistan.

They saved a discussion about one of their biggest issues, economic trade, for a lunch scheduled after the press conference.

"So far (trade) negotiators with Germany have done better than the negotiators with the U.S.," Trump said. "I give them credit for that."

The president has made it clear he wants to strike trade deals that are fair to U.S. workers, not one-sided agreements that benefit other countries. For Germany, that could mean a 35 percent border tax on German cars coming into the U.S.

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