Germany Angela Merkel And Trump REFUSE To Shake Hands Press Conference,Reporter Asks Trump Fake News
Angela Merkel looks on in horror as Trump accuses German reporter of spreading ‘fake news’. President Donald Trump on Friday hit back at a German reporter who asked him about his obsession with labeling any piece of information he didn’t like as “fake news.” During a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a German reporter asked the president both why he supported isolationist trade policies, and why he was “so scared of diversity in the news,” referring to Trump’s repeated attacks on unfriendly media outlets. Trump started off his response by sarcastically calling her a “nice, friendly reporter” before pivoting to her first question about his support for protectionism. “I am a trader, I am a fair trader,” Trump insisted. “I am a trader that wants to see good for everybody worldwide, but I am not an isolationist by any stretch of the imagination.” Trump then moved on to attacking the media for giving off the impression that he’s an isolationist. “I don’t know what newspaper you’re reading, but I guess that would be another example of, as you say, fake news,” he said. As Trump accused the reporter of spouting “fake news,” Chancellor Merkel looked up from her lectern and gave the president a pointed stare. President Trump did not extend his hand to shake German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s in a Friday Oval Office photo op, a courtesy he usually extends to foreign leaders visiting the white House. Trump sat next to Merkel in front of a fireplace for the brief photo-op. In a video of the incident, reporters called for Trump and Merkel to shake hands at the end of the photo op, as is customary during meetings between foreign leaders. Hearing the calls for a handshake, Merkel appears to quietly ask Trump, "do you want to have a handshake?" Trump either does not hear her or ignores her request. They do not shake hands. Trump has criticized Merkel's lenient migration policy in Germany as "catastrophic" and Merkel has criticized Trump's efforts to ban immigrants from Muslim-majority countries. The two leaders were expected to discuss the future of NATO and the EU in their first face-to-face meeting. Early Friday afternoon, President Trump and German Chancellor Merkel held one of the more awkward photo ops in recent memory. Merkel sat, looking like she was trying hard to appear casual. Trump barely bothered, grimacing tightly. When photographers asked for a handshake, Merkel asked Trump if they should shake hands. He either did not hear or pretended not to. As it turns out, this was only a warm-up for the dual press conference the two leaders held later Friday afternoon, during which Merkel stood beside Trump as he ridiculed a German reporter, lied about his statements on his baseless conspiracy theory that President Obama surveilled him, and refused to back down on claims that have set off a diplomatic incident with the United Kingdom. The fact that it might be a tense conversation was clear from the two leaders’ opening statements. Trump, during his, once again complained about the cost of NATO. “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 defense,” he said. “Many nations owe vast sums of money from past years and it is very unfair to the United States. These nations must pay what they owe.” As for Merkel, she used her own statement to issue a veiled scolding for Trump, who previously said she was “ruining” Germany with a “catastrophic mistake” of an open-door refugee policy. “I've always said it's much, much better to talk to one another and not about one another, and I think our conversation proved this,” Merkel said. Perhaps that is so, but there was little talking to each other during the press conference; instead, Trump shot from the hip and Merkel sought to either smooth things over or stay out of the way. It wasn’t an easy task.
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