Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel described former U.S. President Donald Trump as “an attention seeker” during a candid conversation in Athens on Wednesday evening.
Merkel shared a series of personal reflections from her time in office, including her famously tense relationship with Trump and the emotional strain of the Greek debt crisis, News.Az reports, citing Politico.
Recalling a 2017 Oval Office meeting with Trump, Merkel said he refused to shake her hand when she suggested it in front of cameras. “I made the mistake of saying, ‘Donald, we should shake hands,’ and he didn’t. He wanted to draw attention to himself. That’s what he wants: to distract and have everyone look at him,” she remarked. “You can see this in what he is doing with the tariffs.”
Merkel criticized Trump’s transactional worldview, noting, “For him, all countries were in competition with each other. The success of one meant the failure of another. He didn’t believe in shared prosperity through cooperation.”
Addressing current tensions in transatlantic relations, she warned European countries not to be intimidated by new U.S. tariffs. “We must stand united and respond with our own tariffs if necessary. I’m not saying we should break off relations with the U.S., but we must negotiate. Even the U.S. cannot survive alone,” Merkel emphasized.
