HANDS-OFF DIPLOMACY

Trump won’t shake on it, but Merkel says it’s better to talk to rather than about one another

DONALD Trump refused to shake hands with Angela Merkel on Friday as a first meeting between the two leaders, which was postponed from Tuesday because of snow, got off to a frosty start.

The German chancellor and US president posed for the press in the Oval Office, and photographers could be heard calling for the two to shake hands. Merkel turned and smiled at her host, asking him: “Do you want to have a handshake?”

But Trump, who had appeared to hold hands with UK Prime Minister Theresa May when they walked together during her White House visit in January, looked down at the floor and avoided all eye contact with his guest.

Merkel grimaced slightly but soon brushed off the awkward incident and began the task of attempting to build a new transatlantic partnership, quipping in their later press conference that the two leaders “will work together hand in hand”.

Trump reassured her that his administration would “respect historic

I reiterated to Chancellor Merkel my strong support for Nato as well as the need for our Nato allies to pay their fair share for the cost of defence