U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday in a tweet that he had a “great” meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, dismissing as “fake news” reports about a difficult first visit, while continuing to criticize the country for its limited support of NATO.

    “Despite what you have heard from the FAKE NEWS, I had a GREAT meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel,” Trump said in a two-part tweet. “Nevertheless, Germany owes vast sums of money to NATO & the United States must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defense it provides to Germany!”

    However, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen yesterday rejected Trump’s claim. “There is no debt account at NATO,” von der Leyen said in a statement, adding that it was wrong to link the alliance’s target for members to spend 2 percent of their economic output on defense by 2024 solely to NATO.

    News reports that Trump and Merkel struggled during her White House visit Friday is in part the result of the world leaders not shaking hands before reporters in the Oval Office.

    And later, during a joint news conference, Trump pushed back against the notion in Europe that his “America First” agenda means he’s an isolationist, calling such a suggestion “another example of, as you say, fake news.”

    Trump also reaffirmed the United States’ “strong support” for NATO but reiterated his position that NATO allies need to “pay their fair share” for the cost of defense.

    Only the U.S. and four other members currently reach the benchmark of spending 2 percent of GDP on defense. Germany currently spends 1.23 percent of its GDP on defense, but it is being increased.

    Meanwhile, the Trump administration wants to build a 9-meter-high border wall that looks good from the north side and is difficult to climb or cut through, according to a pair of contract notices posted to a government website.

    (SD-Agencies)