It's a well known fact that Donald Trump has never shied away from a handshake when it comes to greeting international leaders, and the "death-grip" memes galore are proof to that, however, German Chancellor Angela Merkel had a sticky moment with the U.S. President as besides not shaking her hand, he barely even made eye contact with her during the customary photo-op.
In a photo op after their Oval Office meeting, the two leaders sat next to each other in separate chairs. Merkel could be seen leaning towards Trump, who sat with his hands firmly locked between his knees, a very 'un-Trump' like gesture.
Merkel then appeared to ask the President if he wanted to shake hands, which is customary in photo ops, but Trump simply did not respond. He barely even looked at his German counterpart while quickly answering a few questions from the press.
By contrast, the President did shake hands with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe when they recently visited him in the Oval Office, which incidentally did provide great fodder to memesters.
Trump's tensed up body-language during the photo-op and his refusal to shake hands with Merkel has not gone down well across the globe, as he was chastised for the incidents and many branded his behaviors as rude and "un-President" like.
"Send a good picture back to Germany, make sure," Trump jokingly told photographers, adding that his meeting with the Chancellor was "very good" and said the pair talked about "many things."
However, when asked to shake hands by reporters and photographers, Trump and Merkel remained stationary. It wasn't clear if the two heard the request, and the two had shaken hands when Merkel arrived at the White House and they shook hands again after a White House news conference, reports CNN.
The German Chancellor is trying to forge a relationship with Trump despite suspicion over his political views, as she congratulated the President after his election win, amid concern in Germany that his stances on issues like immigration run counter to the principles sustaining the Western alliance.
Trump had earlier bashed Merkel during his campaign trail, and had also insulted her in his past public comments, criticizing her decision to allow hundreds of thousands of refugees to enter Germany.
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