President Trump held talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the sidelines of the NATO summit Wednesday, just hours after he accused Germany of damaging the trans-Atlantic alliance by continuing to import energy from Russia.
“We did discuss that,” Trump said in response to a shouted question about the Nord Stream pipeline, an 800-mile long project Russia has been pursuing for years. The pipeline would nearly double Russia’s current energy exports, of which Germany is its biggest European recipient.
“Germany, as far as I’m concerned, is captive to Russia because it’s getting so much of its energy from Russia,” the president told NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg earlier Wednesday, questioning how the alliance can “be together when a country is getting its energy from the person you want protection against.”
But Trump struck a different tone during his pull-aside with Merkel, whom he has also criticized for contributing too little to NATO’s collective defense.
“We have a very, very good relationship with the chancellor. We have a tremendous relationship with Germany,” Trump said.
“You have had tremendous success and I want to congratulate you,” he added, gesturing toward Merkel.
The German leader told reporters she and Trump discussed issues of migration and trade, and that her country remains “good partners” with the U.S. despite recent disputes over tariffs and defense spending.
Trump roundly criticized German officials in a letter to Merkel ahead of this week’s summit in Brussels, claiming the country’s refusal to meet NATO’s 2 percent threshold on defense spending encouraged other countries to obviate the same commitment.
