:00:00. > :00:09.meeting for the Western alliance on both sides. Many beginning to figure
:00:10. > :00:10.out already what will be said. The Chancellor of the Federal Republic
:00:11. > :00:38.of Germany. Chancellor Merkel, it is a great
:00:39. > :00:43.honour to welcome you to the People's house, the White House. Our
:00:44. > :00:48.nations share much in common including our desire for security,
:00:49. > :00:53.prosperity and peace. We just concluded a productive meeting with
:00:54. > :00:58.the German and American companies to discuss workforce development and
:00:59. > :01:04.vocational training. Very important words. Germany has done an
:01:05. > :01:10.incredible job training the employees and future employees, and
:01:11. > :01:20.employing its manufacturing and industrial workforce. It is crucial
:01:21. > :01:26.that we provide our American workers with a really great employment
:01:27. > :01:34.Outlook, and that includes making sure that we harness the full
:01:35. > :01:39.potential of women in our economy. My administration is in the process
:01:40. > :01:44.of rebuilding the American and industrial base. A stronger America
:01:45. > :01:52.is in the interests, believe me, of the world as a whole. I reiterated
:01:53. > :01:57.to Chancellor Merkel my strong support for Nato, as well as the
:01:58. > :02:03.nude for our Nato allies to pay their fair share for the cost of
:02:04. > :02:08.defence. Many nations though vast sums of money from past years, but
:02:09. > :02:15.McVeigh over money, and it is very unfair to the United States. -- they
:02:16. > :02:19.bow us money. These nations must pay what they owe us. I thanked
:02:20. > :02:24.Chancellor Merkel for the German governments commitment to increase
:02:25. > :02:31.defence spending and worked was contributing at least 2% of GDP. I
:02:32. > :02:40.want to thank the Chancellor for her leadership in supporting Nato and
:02:41. > :02:45.its efforts in Afghanistan. It has come at significant cost including
:02:46. > :02:50.the lives of more than 50 German soldiers whose sacrifice be greatly
:02:51. > :02:54.honour. I also appreciate Chancellor Merkel's leadership, along with that
:02:55. > :03:03.of the French president, to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Where we
:03:04. > :03:10.ideally seek a peaceful solution. Most importantly our two countries
:03:11. > :03:14.must continue to work together to protect our people from radical
:03:15. > :03:23.Islamic terrorism. And to defeat Isis. I applaud Chancellor Merkel
:03:24. > :03:30.for Germany's contributions, both civilian and military, as a counter
:03:31. > :03:35.Isis coalition member. We also recognise that immigration security
:03:36. > :03:40.is national security. We must protect our citizens from those
:03:41. > :03:44.seeking to spread terrorism, extremism, and violence inside our
:03:45. > :03:51.borders. Immigration is a privilege, not a right. And the safety of our
:03:52. > :03:59.citizens must always come first without question. Over lunch the
:04:00. > :04:03.Chancellor and I will talk about our economic partnership. We must work
:04:04. > :04:11.together towards fair and reciprocal trade policies. That benefit both of
:04:12. > :04:16.our peoples. Millions of hard-working US citizens have been
:04:17. > :04:20.left behind by International commerce, and together we can shape
:04:21. > :04:29.a future where all of our citizens have a path to financial security.
:04:30. > :04:34.The United States will respect historic institutions and we will
:04:35. > :04:38.also recognise the right of free people to manage their own destiny.
:04:39. > :04:44.The close friendship between America and Germany is built on our shared
:04:45. > :04:54.values. We cherish individual rights. We uphold the rule of law
:04:55. > :05:01.and we seek peace among nations. Our Alliance is a symbol of strength and
:05:02. > :05:03.co-operation to the world. It is the foundation of a very, very hopeful
:05:04. > :05:29.future. Thank you. TRANSLATION: Muggy first personal
:05:30. > :05:34.one on one meeting and an exchange of views. In the period leading up
:05:35. > :05:37.to this visit I have always said it is much better to talk to one
:05:38. > :05:42.another and not about one another and I think our conversation proved
:05:43. > :05:47.this. We talked about the international situation. We talked
:05:48. > :05:52.about apprenticeship programmes when we met with CEOs and apprentices
:05:53. > :06:01.around a round table. As regard the shared interests that we have, let
:06:02. > :06:06.me look back into the past. We, the Germans, owe a lot to the USA,
:06:07. > :06:12.particularly regarding the economic rise of Germany. This was primarily
:06:13. > :06:20.due to the help from the Marshall plan. We were also able to regain
:06:21. > :06:25.German unity after decades of the USA standing up for this, with other
:06:26. > :06:30.allies, standing by our site during the Cold War. And we are very
:06:31. > :06:34.gratified to know that today we can live in peace and freedom as a
:06:35. > :06:38.unified country due to that. I was gratified to know that the president
:06:39. > :06:44.underlined how important he thinks Nato is, it is of prime importance
:06:45. > :06:48.for us, and it was not without good reason that we said during our
:06:49. > :06:54.summit meeting in Wales that also Germany needs to increase its
:06:55. > :07:00.expenditure. We committed to this 2% goal until 2024. Last year we
:07:01. > :07:06.increased our defence spending by 8% and we will work together again and
:07:07. > :07:10.again on this. And we said that defence and security has a lot of
:07:11. > :07:15.different facets to it. On the one hand it is supporting missions in
:07:16. > :07:19.Africa, for instance, it is also promoting development assistance and
:07:20. > :07:23.also helping missions in Africa, for example, in trying to stand up for
:07:24. > :07:29.their own safety and security. We continued to be in conversation,
:07:30. > :07:34.what is important for us today was that we could talk about
:07:35. > :07:38.Afghanistan, and, as the president rightly said, the continuing mission
:07:39. > :07:42.of Germany in Afghanistan. I'm very glad that the United States intends
:07:43. > :07:47.to continue to commit through the Afghan mission as well. Together we
:07:48. > :07:52.fight against Islamist terrorism, Germany is going to step up its work
:07:53. > :07:57.and continue its work in Afghanistan and also in Syria. We are going to
:07:58. > :08:04.monitor the situation closely, on political solutions there but also
:08:05. > :08:08.in Libya, as we talked about. I am very gratified to know that the
:08:09. > :08:15.American administration and also the president personally commit himself
:08:16. > :08:22.to this process. We need to come to a solution. There has to be a safe,
:08:23. > :08:26.secure solution for Ukraine, the relationship with Russia needs to be
:08:27. > :08:31.improved as well, once the situation on the ground is clarified, Minsk is
:08:32. > :08:37.a good basis but and fortunately we have not made headway we want to.
:08:38. > :08:41.But we will work with experts in the next months on this issue. I'm also
:08:42. > :08:46.here in my capacity as T20 president. We will be hosting the
:08:47. > :08:51.G20 summit this year. -- G20 president. I am very pleased that
:08:52. > :08:55.the president is committed to attending this summit. We are going
:08:56. > :09:01.to talk and some length over lunch about these issues. We say that this
:09:02. > :09:05.trade has to be rendered fairer, we can talk about the details of that,
:09:06. > :09:12.we've already seen today when we had an exchange, with our CEOs and
:09:13. > :09:18.apprentices, what sort of potential we can tap, Watts and potential our
:09:19. > :09:22.two economies have. It is moving, when meeting with these people, to
:09:23. > :09:26.see what sort of future work is being done by companies.
:09:27. > :09:32.Particularly in this period when we are transiting from traditional
:09:33. > :09:36.manufacturing, capacity building skills are so important, not only
:09:37. > :09:42.for get people but also for those who maybe have lost their jobs and
:09:43. > :09:46.need to be re-skilled in order to find a job again. That is an issue
:09:47. > :09:51.that I know is important to you in the United States, also important
:09:52. > :09:55.for Germany. I would say that there are a number of issues where we
:09:56. > :10:00.would continue to co-operate closely on the level of experts and also on
:10:01. > :10:04.our level, we had a good exchange of views so I'm very much looking
:10:05. > :10:07.forward to the talks we will have over you. Thank you. We will take a
:10:08. > :10:42.couple of questions. President Trump has a different
:10:43. > :10:48.style to previous presidents, what do you think of that style, is it
:10:49. > :10:55.good for the world? Thank you, Mark. We have a really wonderful group of
:10:56. > :11:01.people meeting later. We met with 12 in Congress, you saw that a while
:11:02. > :11:09.ago and they went from all noes to all yeses. It's all coming together.
:11:10. > :11:13.We have a great health care plan, think it will be passed pretty
:11:14. > :11:16.quickly. It is coming together beautifully. You have the
:11:17. > :11:19.Conservative groups and other groups, everybody wants certain
:11:20. > :11:25.things, we will have a great health care plan in the end. I have to say
:11:26. > :11:31.that Obamacare is a disaster, it is failing. I was in Tennessee. We had
:11:32. > :11:35.tremendous crowd the other night. Half of the state is not covered,
:11:36. > :11:39.the insurance companies have left, and the other half has one insurance
:11:40. > :11:45.company and that will probably be bailing out soon. They have no one.
:11:46. > :11:50.Many states have one, a lot of places have none. Obamacare will
:11:51. > :11:54.fail. It will fold, it will close and very soon, if something is not
:11:55. > :12:00.done. I have often said politically that the best thing I can do is
:12:01. > :12:04.absolutely nothing, wait one year and even the Democrats will come and
:12:05. > :12:11.say please, please, you've got to help us. But it's not the right
:12:12. > :12:16.thing to do for the people. We have a great plan, getting more and more
:12:17. > :12:20.popular with the Republican base and with people generally. The press has
:12:21. > :12:25.covered it inaccurately, people are covered well and it will be a model
:12:26. > :12:39.to be looked upon, I think. I will tell you after we finished. Muggy
:12:40. > :12:43.TRANSLATION: Thank you. I am here as Chancellor of the Federal Republic
:12:44. > :12:47.of Germany, represent German interests, I speak with the
:12:48. > :12:57.President of the United States who, well, stands up for, has interest in
:12:58. > :13:01.his task and I was gratified by the warm and gracious hospitality by
:13:02. > :13:05.which I have been received. We hold a conversation where we were trying
:13:06. > :13:09.to address areas where we disagree but trying to bring people together,
:13:10. > :13:13.trying to show what is our vantage point, what is the American vantage
:13:14. > :13:17.point and trying to find a compromise is good for both sides
:13:18. > :13:20.because we need to be fair to each other. Everyone expects from his or
:13:21. > :13:26.her leader that something good comes out of it for their own people. The
:13:27. > :13:29.Germany, I can say, people are different, they have different
:13:30. > :13:33.abilities, different characteristics, different traits of
:13:34. > :13:38.character and found their way into politics along different pathways.
:13:39. > :13:41.That is diversity, which is good. Sometimes it is difficult to find
:13:42. > :13:45.compromises but that is what we've been elected for. If everything just
:13:46. > :13:52.went like that without problems we would not eat politicians to do
:13:53. > :13:58.these jobs. -- we would not need politicians to do these jobs. From
:13:59. > :14:03.the German press agency, Madame Chancellor, given the experience,
:14:04. > :14:06.you say you are confident that was colourful, how dangerous do you
:14:07. > :14:12.think this isolationist policy of the US president president is, what
:14:13. > :14:18.with the anti-terrorism plans and also the fact that he thinks the EU
:14:19. > :14:22.doesn't deal -- that he doesn't deal with the EU in a respectful way. Mr
:14:23. > :14:27.President, America first, well that's not a week in the European
:14:28. > :14:32.Union and why are you so scared of diversity in the media, that you
:14:33. > :14:37.speak so often of fake news, and things that cannot be proven, for
:14:38. > :14:42.example, the fact that you were wiretapped by Mr Obama? Nice
:14:43. > :14:48.friendly reporter. First of all, I don't believe in an isolationist
:14:49. > :14:52.policy. But I also believe a policy of trade should be a fair policy.
:14:53. > :14:56.And the United States has been treated very unfairly by many
:14:57. > :15:01.countries over the years and that is going to stop. But I'm not an
:15:02. > :15:05.isolationist. I am a free trader but also a fair trade. And our free
:15:06. > :15:11.trade has led to a lot of bad things happening. You look the deficits we
:15:12. > :15:16.have, and you look at all of the accumulation of debt, we are a
:15:17. > :15:23.powerful country, a very strong country, we will soon be at a level
:15:24. > :15:27.that we perhaps have never been before, our military is going to be
:15:28. > :15:33.strengthened, it has been depleted but I am a trader, I am a fair
:15:34. > :15:37.trader, I am a trader that wants to see good for everybody worldwide,
:15:38. > :15:41.but I am not an isolationist by any stretch of the imagination so I
:15:42. > :15:44.don't know what newspaper you are reading but I guess that would be
:15:45. > :15:59.another example of, as you say, fake news. Alow me, if I may come at it
:16:00. > :16:03.in the following terms. We have not yet had time to talk at great length
:16:04. > :16:09.about economic issues but I would say that the success of Germany in
:16:10. > :16:14.the economic area but also on security and peace, that the success
:16:15. > :16:18.of Germans has always been one where the German success is one side of
:16:19. > :16:21.the coin and the other side of the coin has been European unity and
:16:22. > :16:26.integration. That is something of which I am deeply convinced and I am
:16:27. > :16:30.not just saying this back home, I'm saying it here and in the United
:16:31. > :16:37.States and in Washington in my talks with the president. Secondly, I
:16:38. > :16:42.believe that globalisation ought to be shaped in an open-minded way but
:16:43. > :16:47.also in a very fair way, freedom of movement within the European Union
:16:48. > :16:52.for example is an important element of our economic progress, peace, it
:16:53. > :16:54.has been for many decades, the European countries for many
:16:55. > :17:00.centuries which was against each other. We have to protect our
:17:01. > :17:07.external borders because there we have to work on the basis of mutual
:17:08. > :17:10.interests with our neighbours. Migration, immigration, integration
:17:11. > :17:15.has to be worked on, obviously, traffickers have to be stopped, but
:17:16. > :17:19.this has to be done by looking at the refugees as well. Giving them
:17:20. > :17:25.opportunities to shape their own lives where they are. Help countries
:17:26. > :17:29.who right now are not in an ability to do so, sometimes because they
:17:30. > :17:33.have civil war. I think that is the right way of going about it. This is
:17:34. > :17:39.obviously what we have an exchange of views about. But my position is
:17:40. > :17:49.the one I have just set out to you. I might add that we have many plans,
:17:50. > :17:51.many plants coming back to Michigan, are higher, Pennsylvania, to a lot
:17:52. > :17:58.of places where they were losing jobs, and we will have a different
:17:59. > :18:03.odyssey -- magic, Orinoco, Pennsylvania. -- magic, Ohio,
:18:04. > :18:06.Pennsylvania. It will be a great policy, not just the USA, but
:18:07. > :18:48.worldwide. I look forward to it. I think we have are very unified
:18:49. > :18:52.Republican party. After all, we have the presidency, we have the House,
:18:53. > :18:56.and the Senate and we are getting along very well. If you were at the
:18:57. > :19:05.meeting that I just attended, where we took 12 noes or semi-noes and no
:19:06. > :19:09.yeses and within a short period of time everyone was very much on
:19:10. > :19:14.board. And a commitment to vote yes. I think we have a very unified
:19:15. > :19:18.party. More unified than even the election, when they talk about me I
:19:19. > :19:23.seem to be very popular, at least this week, within the party! Because
:19:24. > :19:28.we have our highest numbers, the highest numbers I've ever had in the
:19:29. > :19:35.party. So I think there is great unification, health is a very
:19:36. > :19:38.difficult a very complex subject, one that goes both ways, you do
:19:39. > :19:42.something for one side and the other side does not like it. But it has
:19:43. > :19:46.come together very well and I think it is going to be very popular,
:19:47. > :19:51.extremely popular, on trade with Germany I think we will do
:19:52. > :19:55.fantastically well. Right now I would say that the negotiators for
:19:56. > :20:00.Germany have done a far better job than the negotiators of the United
:20:01. > :20:05.States. But hopefully we can even it out. We don't want victory, we want
:20:06. > :20:09.fairness. All I want is fairness. Germany has done very well in its
:20:10. > :20:15.trade deals with the US and I give them credit for it but, and I can
:20:16. > :20:20.speak for many other countries, when you look at China, virtually any
:20:21. > :20:27.country that we do business with, it is not exactly what you call good
:20:28. > :20:30.for our workers. If you look at the horrible Nafta transaction, Nafta
:20:31. > :20:34.has been a disaster for the United States. It has been a disaster for
:20:35. > :20:39.companies, and in particular a disaster for the workers. A lot of
:20:40. > :20:42.the companies just moved. But the workers, they are probably the
:20:43. > :20:47.reason I am standing here, maybe the number one, that and the military,
:20:48. > :20:50.building up our military which we will do and be stronger than ever
:20:51. > :20:58.before and hopefully not have to use it. But we will be stronger, perhaps
:20:59. > :21:01.far stronger than ever before. It is probably the reason I am here, when
:21:02. > :21:06.you talk about trade. So I think we are going to be a very different
:21:07. > :21:11.country. I think we are going to, have great values, but in terms of
:21:12. > :21:15.the military it will be much stronger, and our trade deals are
:21:16. > :21:20.going to be good solid deals. Not deals that lead to closing plants
:21:21. > :21:28.and tremendous and implement. OK. Thank you. Dash to medicine and
:21:29. > :23:10.employment. -- tremendous unemployment.
:23:11. > :23:19.Is a problem that the presidents of Europe and of the United States have
:23:20. > :23:26.a basic different understanding of these problems? Rejected White House
:23:27. > :23:32.claims of alleged wiretapping on you, and Trump Tower and the Trump
:23:33. > :23:35.organisation or are members of your campaign that British intelligence
:23:36. > :23:41.was either responsible for it or involved in it? After these games
:23:42. > :23:55.are rejected. What is your take take on that? Was it a mistake to blame
:23:56. > :24:04.British intelligence for this, are there for time to time tweets that
:24:05. > :24:09.you regret? Very seldom! Probably would not be here right now but very
:24:10. > :24:12.seldom. We have a tremendous group of people that listen and I can get
:24:13. > :24:18.around the media when the media doesn't tell the truth so I like
:24:19. > :24:23.that. As far as wiretapping, I guess, by this past administration,
:24:24. > :24:36.at least we have something in common perhaps! And just to finish, your
:24:37. > :24:45.question, we said nothing. All we did was quote a certain very
:24:46. > :24:49.talented legal minds who was the one responsible for saying that on TV. I
:24:50. > :24:55.did not make an opinion on it. It was made by a talented lawyer on
:24:56. > :25:05.Fox. So you should not talk to me, you should talk to Fox. OK?
:25:06. > :25:10.TRANSLATION: I believe that the president has clearly set out his
:25:11. > :25:15.philosophy as to what trade agreements need to bring about for
:25:16. > :25:27.the American side as well. I personally do not think that Germany
:25:28. > :25:30.needs to negotiate and not the EU. We have devolved our competences so
:25:31. > :25:35.the European Commission negotiates an part of the member states. That
:25:36. > :25:40.will not prevent us from concluding agreements. This would qualify as a
:25:41. > :25:45.bilateral agreement between the EU and USA if we had it. The question
:25:46. > :25:49.is, would it be of benefit to both countries? Let me be very honest. A
:25:50. > :25:55.free-trade agreement with the USA has not always been popular Germany
:25:56. > :25:59.either. There have been fewer demonstrations against this
:26:00. > :26:05.free-trade agreement in the USA than in Europe. And also in Germany. So I
:26:06. > :26:09.am glad to note that apparently the perspective on that has changed a
:26:10. > :26:16.little bit at least in Germany as well.
:26:17. > :26:30.Thank you very much. It was a great honour. There we are. A a few
:26:31. > :26:33.comments about the wider range of subjects there and taking questions
:26:34. > :26:34.from all of those reporters, who been waiting some