President Trump will host German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House later this month, weeks after the foreign leader slammed the administration’s travel ban and restrictions on immigration.
White House principal deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters aboard Air Force One that Merkel will visit the president in Washington on March 14. The two leaders have only previously spoken over the phone and are expected to hold a joint press conference at the conclusion of their first sit-down.
Merkel, who developed a strong bond with former President Barack Obama, has been highly critical of his successor’s policies on immigration. A spokesman for Merkel said last month that she “regrets the entry ban imposed by the U.S. government against refugees and nationals from certain countries.”
“She is convinced that even in the necessarily resolute battle against terrorism it is not justified to place people from certain origin or belief under general suspicion,” the spokesman said.
Trump has accused Merkel of “ruining Germany” by granting asylum to large numbers of refugees without subjecting them to rigorous vetting procedures.
“I think she made one very catastrophic mistake and that was taking all of these illegals, you know, taking all of the people from wherever they come,” the president told a British newspaper in January. He simultaneously insisted that he had “great respect” for his German counterpart.
