Donald Trump participated in a meeting with then German Chancellor Angela Merkel during the G20 Osaka Summit in Osaka in 2019. AFP
US President-elect Donald Trump harbors a fascination for dictators like Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Angela Merkel's memoirs, as reported by Die Zeit newspaper on Thursday. During their initial encounter in Washington in March 2017, shortly after Trump's election to his first term in the White House, the US leader posed a series of questions to Merkel. Trump inquired about her East German background and her relationship with Putin, clearly showing a strong interest in the Russian president, Merkel recounts.
In the years that followed, she gained the impression that Trump was captivated by politicians with autocratic and dictatorial tendencies.
Merkel's memoir, titled 'Freedom', co-authored with her long-time political adviser Beate Baumann, is set to be released in 30 languages on Tuesday. The highly anticipated 736-page book is expected to provide fresh insights into Merkel's four terms in office from 2005 to 2021, during which she was recognized as the world's most powerful woman.
In the excerpts published by Die Zeit, Merkel reveals that upon returning from her first meeting with Trump, she was left with a 'bad feeling'. Trump greeted Merkel with a handshake in front of the press, but when journalists requested a second handshake, he ignored them. Merkel whispered to him that they should shake hands again, but he did not respond.
During their meeting, Trump reiterated many of the criticisms he had leveled against Germany during his election campaign. He accused Merkel of ruining Germany by accepting a large number of refugees in 2015 and 2016, criticized Germany's low defense spending, and condemned what he perceived as unfair trade practices. The sight of numerous German cars on the streets of New York particularly irked him, Merkel noted.
Merkel observed that their conversations operated on two distinct levels — Trump on an emotional level, and herself on a factual level. When Trump did pay attention to her arguments, it was primarily to transform them into new accusations. Resolving the issues raised did not seem to be his objective.
Merkel concluded from the meeting that there would be 'no joint work for an interconnected world with Trump'. He evaluated everything from the perspective of the real estate entrepreneur he had been before entering politics. For him, all countries were in competition with each other, and the success of one implied the failure of the other.
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