West’s most powerful leaders struggle to develop a relationship
Merkel, Trump meet briefly, put their differences on back burner
HAMBURG, Germany — Over her 11 years in power, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany has proved uncommonly adept at solving the puzzle-box challenges posed by the world’s most unpredictable leaders.
But she has never met a problem like Donald Trump.
Trump and Merkel — estranged by widely diverging temperaments, worldviews, leadership styles and visions of Europe — had a breakthrough of sorts Thursday just before their brief meeting on the eve of the Group of 20 conference in Hamburg. They got the handshake right.
The 40-minute meeting that followed was mostly uneventful, touching on the hot-button topics of climate change, trade and foreign policy questions on North Korea, Ukraine and the Middle East, according to a statement from Merkel’s government.
Bar set fairly low
People close to these two most powerful Western leaders say the brevity and bonhomie were the main goal. Both sides are hoping for a series of low-octane interactions in which the two articulate their differences without the awkward optics of previous meetings.
But those differences, especially since Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris climate accord last month, are inescapable. Merkel, grappling with violent anti-globalism protests on streets outside the conference, has been intensely focused on divining a way to coexist with a president whose disruptive views differ so drastically from her own.
“Merkel is clearly trying to figure out how to deal with Trump, and it isn’t easy for her,” said Klaus Brinkbaumer, editor-inchief of Der Spiegel, the country’s largest-circulation newsmagazine.
“She doesn’t like to make news in speeches, but publicly, she’s been more critical of Trump than I would have expected,” Brinkbaumer said Thursday, a few hours before Air Force One arrived in Hamburg from Trump’s one-day stop in Warsaw. “Privately, the only obvious path is through the president’s daughter, which is why she invited Ivanka to that conference in Berlin earlier this year.
“But even that doesn’t seem to be working. German diplomats still don’t know who to call in the State Department on serious issues, or even who their counterparts are in the White House.”
German officials were reticent when asked about possible disputes that might overshadow Merkel’s meeting with Trump. Her spokesman, Steffen Seibert, noted that there were many differences of opinion, “and it is not just with one delegation.” This is “also why the chancellor is scheduling bilateral meetings to explore difficult themes,” Seibert said.
Awkward interactions
Trump has told his staff that he “gets along fine” with Merkel, though he finds the interactions awkward, two people close to him said.
But those grievances are not personal, aides insist. He is displeased with Germany’s policies, they say, and will continue to hammer Germany about its trade surplus with the United States and its refusal to pay what he believes to be its fair share for selfdefense in NATO.
Still, Trump — who is almost as allergic to private confrontation as Merkel — entered Thursday’s short meeting with no set of objectives apart from exiting quickly and without much controversy.
He praised Merkel for hosting the event under tense circumstances, one aide familiar with the interaction said, and participated in the bilateral meeting partly out of courtesy to her, not because he had any business to transact, the aide added, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Still, it will be hard to avoid confrontation. Merkel’s aides have 48 hours to help produce a communiqué from the summit meeting that all can accept, despite disagreements on climate change, immigration and trade.