The President: Thank you very much.
Chancellor Merkel, it is a great honor to welcome you
to the People's House, the White House.
Our two nations share much in common, including our
desire for security, prosperity and peace.
We just concluded a productive meeting with
the German and American companies to discuss
workforce development and vocational training --
very important words.
Germany has done an incredible job training
the employees and future employees, and employing
its manufacturing and industrial workforce.
It's crucial that we provide our American
workers with a really great employment outlook,
and that includes making sure that we harness the
full potential of women in our economy.
My administration is in the process of rebuilding
the American industrial base.
A stronger America is in the interests, believe me,
of the world as a whole.
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 of defense.
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.
During our meeting, I thanked Chancellor Merkel
for the German government's commitment to
increase defense spending and work toward
contributing at least 2 percent of GDP.
I want to thank the Chancellor for her
leadership in supporting NATO and its efforts
in Afghanistan.
This has come at significant cost,
including the lives of over 50 German soldiers,
whose sacrifice we greatly honor.
I also appreciate Chancellor Merkel's
leadership, along with the French President, to
resolve the conflict in Ukraine, where we ideally
seek a peaceful solution.
Most importantly, our two countries must continue to
work together to protect our people from radical
Islamic terrorism and to defeat ISIS.
I applaud Chancellor Merkel for Germany's
contributions, both civilian and military, as
a counter-ISIS coalition member.
We also recognize that immigration security
is national security.
We must protect our citizens from those who
seek to spread terrorism, extremism and violence
inside our borders.
Immigration is a privilege, not a right,
and the safety of our citizens must always come
first, without question.
Over lunch, the Chancellor and I will talk about our
economic partnership.
We must work together towards fair and
reciprocal trade policies that benefit
both of our peoples.
Millions of hardworking U.S.
citizens have been left behind by international
commerce, and together, we can shape a future where
all of our citizens
have a path to financial security.
The United States will respect historic
institutions, and we will also recognize the right
of free people to manage their own destiny.
The close friendship between America and
Germany is built on our shared value.
We cherish individual rights, we uphold the rule
of law, and we seek peace among nations.
Our alliance is a symbol of strength and
cooperation to the world.
It is the foundation of a very, very hopeful future.
Thank you.
Chancellor Merkel: (As interpreted.)
Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, it is a great
pleasure and privilege to be here today in the White
House, together with President Donald Trump,
and have a first personal, one-on-one meeting and
an exchange of views.
In the period leading up to this visit, 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.
We talked about the international situation.
We talked about also apprenticeship programs
when we met with CEOs and apprentices around a
roundtable, as regards the shared interests
that we have.
Let me look back into the past.
We, the Germans, owe a lot to the United States of
America, particularly as regards the economic
rise of Germany.
This was primarily due to the help through
the Marshall Plan.
We were also able to regain German unity after
decades of the United States standing up for
this, together with other allies, and standing by
our side during the period of the Cold War.
And we are very gratified to know that today we can
live in peace and freedom as a unified country
due to that.
I was gratified to know that the President had
aligned how important he thinks NATO is.
NATO is of prime importance for us, and it
was not without very good reason that we said during
our summit meeting in Wales that also Germany
needs to increase expenditure.
We committed to this 2-percent goal until 2024.
Last year we increased our defense spending by 8
percent, and we're going to work together again and
again on this.
And we said that, obviously, defense and
security has a lot of different assets and
facets to it.
One the one hand, it's supporting missions in
Africa, for example.
It's also promoting development assistance,
but it's also helping mission in Africa, for
example, in trying to stand up for their own
safety and security.
We continue to be in conversation.
What was important for us today was that we were
able to talk about Afghanistan, talk about,
as the President quite rightly said, the
continuing mission of Germany in Afghanistan.
I am very glad that the United States are
intending to continue to commit to the Afghan
mission as well.
Together, we fight against Islamist terrorism.
Germany is going to step up its work and is going
to continue its work in Afghanistan and also in
Syria.
We're going to monitor the situation
there very closely.
We're going to work on political solutions in
Syria, but also in Libya -- what we talked about.
I am very gratified to know that the American
administration and also the President, personally,
commits himself to the Minsk process.
We need to come to a solution of this problem.
There has to be a safe and secure solution for
Ukraine, but the relationship with Russia
has to be improved, as well, once the situation
there on the ground is clarified.
Minsk is a good basis, but, unfortunately, we
haven't made yet the headway that we want to.
But we are going to work together with our experts
in the next few months to come on this issue.
I am also here in my capacity as G20 president.
You know that we will be hosting the G20 visit --
the G20 Summit -- sorry -- this year, and I'm very
pleased that the President has committed to
attending this summit.
We're going to talk at some length over lunch
about the issues.
We say trade has to be rendered fairer, there has
to be a win-win situation.
We can talk about the details of that.
We've already seen today when we had an exchange
with our CEOs and also with our apprentices what
sort of potential we can tap, what sort our
potential our two economies have.
It's very moving to see, particularly meeting with
these young people, what sort of work towards the
future is being done by our companies there.
So, particularly in this period where we are
transiting from traditional manufacturing
to industry -- capacity-building skills
are so important, incidentally, not only for
young people, but also for those who maybe have lost
their jobs and need to be reskilled in order to find
a job again.
And that is an issue I know is very important for
you here in the United States, but it's also
important for us in Germany.
So I can say there are a number of issues where we
will continue to cooperate very closely on the level
of our experts, but also on our level.
We had a very good first exchange of views, so I'm
very much looking forward to the talks we will
have over lunch.
Thank you.
The President: Thank you very much.
We'll do a couple of questions.
Mark Halperin.
The Press Mr. President, thank you.
A lot of Americans have anxiety, like eight years
ago, regarding (inaudible) healthcare.
So I'm wondering if you can tell people what your
bottom lines are (inaudible.)
Interpretor: The gentleman needs to use a microphone.
The Press Chancellor Merkel, President Trump
has got a different style than most recent,
past U.S. Presidents.
I'm wondering what you think of that style, if
you think it's good for the world or do you have
reservations (inaudible.)
The President: Thank you, Mark.
We just have a really wonderful group of
people meeting later.
We met with 12 pretty much "no's" in Congress -- you
saw that a little while ago -- and they went from
all "no's" to all "yeses" and we have a lot of
"yeses" coming in.
It's all coming together.
We're going to have great healthcare.
It's going to be passed, I believe, I think
substantially, pretty quickly.
It's coming together beautifully.
You have conservative groups, you have
other groups.
Everybody wants certain things.
In the end, we're going to have a great
healthcare plan.
Now, I have to tell you that Obamacare is
a disaster.
It's failing.
I was in Tennessee -- we had a tremendous crowd the
other night, and they have -- half of the
state is uncovered.
The insurance companies have left, and the other
half has one insurance company and that will
probably be bailing out pretty soon also.
They'll have nobody.
You have many states where they have one.
You have a lot of places now where
they'll have none.
Obamacare will fail.
It will fold.
It will close up very, very soon if something
isn't done.
I've often said politically, the best
thing I can do is absolutely nothing.
Wait one year and then even the Democrats will
come say, please, please, you got to help us.
But it's not the right thing to do
for the people.
We have a great plan.
We have a plan that's getting more and more
popular with the Republican base, with the
conservative base, and with people, generally.
The press has covered it very inaccurately.
People are truly covered well, and I think it's
going to be something that's going to be a model
to be looked upon.
The Press (Inaudible.) The President: I'll tell you
after we're finished.
(Laughter.)
Chancellor Merkel: (As interpreted.)
Thank you very much. Well, I'm here as Chancellor of
the Federal Republic of Germany.
I represent German interests.
I speak with the President of the United States, who
stands up for, as is right, American interests.
That is our task, respectively.
And I must say that I was very gratified to know the
very warm and gracious hospitality with which I
have been received here.
We held a conversation where we were trying to
address also those areas where we disagree, but to
try to bring people together, try to show what
is our vantage point, what is the American vantage
point, and then try to find a compromise which is
good for both sides.
Because we need to be fair with each other.
Each and every one is expecting for his or her
leader that something good comes out of it for
their own people.
For Germany, I can say, well, people
are different.
People have different abilities, have different
traits of character, have different origins, have
found their way into politics along
different pathways.
All that is diversity, which is good.
Sometimes it's difficult to find compromises, but
that's what we've been elected for.
If everything just went like that and without
problem, we wouldn't need
politicians to do these jobs.
The Press -- from the German Press Agency.
Madam Chancellor, given the experience of the GDR,
you are always saying that you are so confident that
walls can fall also.
How dangerous do you think this isolationist
policy of the U.S.
President is?
What was the import of terrorists that he plans?
And also, with the fact that he doesn't think that
the EU -- doesn't deal with the EU in a very
respectful way?
And then, Mr. President, America First -- don't you
think that this is going to weaken also the
European Union?
And why are you so scared of diversity?
In the news and in the media, you speak so awful
of fake news and that things, also,
cannot be proven.
For example, the fact that you have been wiretapped
by Mr. Obama.
The President: Nice, friendly reporter.
(Laughter.) First of all, I don't believe in an
isolationist policy, but I also believe a policy of
trade should be a fair policy.
And the United States has been treated very, very
unfairly by many countries over the years.
And that's going to stop.
But I'm not an isolationist.
I'm a free trader, but I'm also a fair trader.
And free trade has led to a lot of bad things
happening -- you look at the deficits that we have
and you look at all of the accumulation of debt.
We're a very powerful company -- country.
We're a very strong, very strong country.
We'll soon be at a level that we perhaps have never
been before.
Our military is going to be strengthened -- it's
been depleted.
But I am a trader.
I am a fair trader.
I am a trader that wants to see good for everybody,
worldwide.
But I am not an isolationist by any
stretch of the imagination.
So I don't know what newspaper you're reading,
but I guess that would be another example of, as you
say, fake news.
Chancellor Merkel: (As interpreted.) Well, allow
me, if I may, to project in the following terms.
We haven't yet had time to talk at great length about
economic issues, but I would say that the success
of Germany in the economic area, but also on security
and peace -- that the success of Germans have
always been one where the German success is one side
of the coin, and the other side of the coin has been
European unity and European integration.
That's something of which I'm deeply convinced.
And I'm not only saying this back home,
I'm saying this here.
I'm saying it in the United States and also
here in Washington in my talks with the President.
Secondly, I believe that globalization ought to be
shaped in an open-minded way, but also in
a very fair way.
Freedom of movement within the European Union, for
example, is a very important element of our
economic progress, of peace; has been for many,
many decades.
The European countries for many, many centuries waged
wars against each other.
We have to protect our external borders because
-- and there we have to work on the basis of
mutual interests with our neighbors.
Migration, immigration, integration has to be
worked on, obviously.
Traffickers have to be stopped.
But this has to be done while looking at the
refugees as well, giving them opportunities to
shape their own lives where they are; help
countries who right now are not in an ability to
do so -- sometimes because they have civil war.
I think that's the right way of going about it.
And this is obviously what we have an exchange of
views about, but my position is the one that I
have just set out for you.
The President: I might add that we have many plants
and factories coming back into the United States.
Many jobs are coming back to Michigan, to Ohio, to
Pennsylvania, to a lot of places where they were
losing jobs.
And we will have a different policy, but it's
going to be a great policy for not only the United
States but a great policy worldwide, and I look very
much forward to it.
Kevin Cirilli.
The Press Yes, Mr. President, (inaudible)
healthcare -- what exactly does the (inaudible)?
And then, for Chancellor Merkel, what do you
anticipate could be a concession you would be
willing to give to the administration
(inaudible)?
The President: Well, Kevin, I think we have a
very unified Republican Party.
After all, we have the presidency, we have the
House, we have the Senate.
And we're getting along very well,
I will tell you.
And if you were at the meeting that I just
attended where we took 12 "no's" or semi-"no's" --
no "yeses" -- and within a short period of time,
everybody was very much on board, and a commitment
to vote yes.
I think we have a very unified party.
I think we're actually more unified than
even the election.
You see -- when they talk about me, I seem to be
very popular, at least this week, within the
party because we have our highest numbers -- the
highest numbers that I've ever had in the party.
So I think there's a great unification.
Now, healthcare is a very, very difficult subject,
it's a very complex subject, and it's a
subject that goes both ways.
You do something for one side and the other side
doesn't like it.
But it's really something that's come together very
well, and I think it's going to be very, very
popular -- extremely popular.
On trade with Germany, I think we're going to do
fantastically well.
Right now, I would say that the negotiators for
Germany have done a far better job than the
negotiators for the United States.
But hopefully we can even it out.
We don't want victory, we want fairness.
All I want is fairness.
Germany has done very well in its trade deals with
the United States, and I give them credit for it,
but -- and I can speak to many other countries.
I mean, you look at China, you look at virtually any
country that we do business with.
It's not exactly what you call good for our workers.
You look at the horrible NAFTA transaction -- NAFTA
has been a disaster for the United States.
It's been a disaster for companies, and in
particular, it's been a disaster for the workers.
A lot of the companies just moved, but the
workers are screwed.
And it's probably the reason I'm standing here,
maybe number one -- that and maybe the military --
building up our military, which we will do, and we
will be stronger than ever before -- and hopefully
not have to use it.
But we will be stronger, and perhaps far stronger
than ever before.
But it's probably the reason I'm here, is when
you talk about trade.
So I think that we are going to be a very
different country.
I think we're going to be -- we're going to have
great values.
But in terms of our military, it's going to be
much stronger.
And our trade deals are going to be good,
solid deals.
Not deals that lead to closing plants and
tremendous unemployment. Okay?
Thank you.
Chancellor Merkel: (As interpreted.) When we
speak about trade agreements, and the
European Union is negotiating those
agreements for all of the member states of the
European Union, but obviously there's also
input by the member states -- they bring to the table
what's important to them.
We have underlined as a German industry, German
business community, and have made the experience
that any kind of agreement that we have concluded --
for example, at the very latest with South Korea --
brought us more jobs, actually.
People were very much concerned about losing
jobs -- for example, the automotive industry -- but
in the end, it turned out -- particularly as it
regards South Korea -- in the end it turned out that
both sides benefitted.
And I think it's only fair.
That's the purpose of concluding agreements --
that both sides win.
And that is the sort of spirit, I think, in which
we ought to be guided in negotiating any agreement
between the United States of America and the EU.
I hope that we can resume the agreement
that we started.
We have just now concluded our agreement with Canada,
and I hope that we will come back to the table and
talk about the agreement between EU and
the U.S. again.
The Press Madam Chancellor, a question
addressed to you.
Today we're talking about trade.
The President, in the past, always said that he
doesn't like multinational trade agreements but he
does bilateral trade agreements.
Do you think from the EU's point of view, T-TIP is a
bilateral agreement with Washington on one side,
the EU the other side?
Now, is the problem that America, the President of
the United States, and the Europeans have a basically
different understanding of what the EU is all about?
That's my question addressed to you.
And Mr. President, my question addressed to you,
if I may -- rejected White House claims, is that the
alleged wiretapping on you, on the Trump Tower,
on Trump organization, or on members of your
campaign was -- that British intelligence was
either responsible for it or involved in it?
After these claims are rejected, what is your
take on that?
Are there other suspects, or do you think it was a
mistake to blame British intelligence for this.
And by the way, my second question, are there, from
time to time, tweets that you regret in hindsight --
The President: Very seldom.
The Press Very seldom.
So you never would have wished not to have -- The
President: Very seldom.
Probably wouldn't be here right now --
but very seldom.
We have a tremendous group of people that listen, and
I can get around the media when the media doesn't
tell the truth, so I like that.
As far as wiretapping, I guess, by this past
administration, at least we have something in
common perhaps.
(Laughter.) And just to finish your question,
we said nothing.
All we did was quote a certain very talented
legal mind who was the one responsible for saying
that on television.
I didn't make an opinion on it.
That was a statement made by a very talented
lawyer on Fox.
And so you shouldn't be talking to me, you should
be talking to Fox, okay?
The Press Thank you.
Chancellor Merkel: (As interpreted.) Well, I
believe that the President has clearly set out his
philosophy as to what trade agreements have to
bring about for the American side as well.
I personally don't think that Germany needs to
negotiate and not the European Union.
We've devolved our competences to the
European Union, so the European Union, or rather
the Commission negotiates on behalf of the member
states, so that's not going to prevent us from
concluding agreements.
Indeed, this would be then qualify as a bilateral
agreement between the EU and the United
States if we had it.
But the question is, will it be of benefit to both
countries or not, and let me be very honest, very
candid -- a free trade agreement with the United
States of America has not always been all that
popular in Germany either.
There have been less demonstrations against
this free trade agreements in the United States that
in Europe, and also in Germany.
So I am very glad to note that apparently the
perspective on that has changed a little bit at
least in Germany, too.
The President: Thank you very much.
Great honor.
Thank you.