Trump to ask Merkel for advice on Putin, Ukraine

In his meeting here with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, US President Donald Trump would ask for advice on Russia and Ukrainian crisis, a senior Trump administration official said on Friday.

"The president will be very interested in hearing the chancellor's views on her experience interacting with Putin," Xinhua quoted an official as saying.

Apart from hearing Merkel's "insights into what it's like to deal with the Russians," the official said Trump would also ask for advice on how the United States could help resolve the Ukraine conflict.

Also, the two leaders are expected to discuss Germany's level of defence spending for the NATO alliance.

"The message from the administration so far have been strong and consistent, that all allies need to be making progress towards this two percent goal," said the official.

"So I expect that will be definitely a topic of their conversation for the concrete plan to meet this commitment."

During his campaign and also after winning the presidency, Trump repeatedly blasted Merkel for making a "catastrophic mistake" with her open door policy on refugees, while Merkel did not shy away from criticising Trump in the wake of his travel ban order that sought to temporarily ban travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries in January.

Despite the past feud, the White House said the goal of the upcoming meeting would be to "have a very positive meeting."

--IANS

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