Trump's campaign insults complicate Merkel's visit

WASHINGTON (AP) — If President Donald Trump wanted a close working relationship with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he had a funny way of showing it during his presidential campaign.

Trump, who will welcome Merkel to the White House today, spent much of 2016 bashing the chancellor, accusing her of "ruining" Germany for allowing an influx of refugees from Syria.

"You watch what happens to Angela Merkel, who I always thought of as a very good leader until she did this. I don't know what went wrong with her," said then-candidate Trump at an August rally in Virginia. "What went wrong? Angela, what happened?"

Trump may not ask the same question directly to Merkel as the leaders of the Western world's most influential countries meet face-to-face for the first time. A snowstorm forced them to postpone their plans for a meeting on Tuesday.

The itinerary includes discussions on strengthening NATO, fighting the Islamic State group and resolving Ukraine's conflict, all matters that require close cooperation between the U.S. and Germany, the White House said ahead of the visit. The meeting will be capped with a joint news conference.

Beyond the issues, the sit-down could be a restart of a relationship complicated by Trump's rhetoric on the campaign trail.

Then, Trump seemed to care little about the potentially awkward ramifications were he to win. He invoked Merkel as a foil at his rallies, accusing his campaign rival, Hillary Clinton, of wanting to be "America's Angela Merkel." He lashed out at Time magazine when it named Merkel "Person of the Year" in 2015 instead of him.

Still, Trump found ways to voice his respect. When a television station in September asked him to name a world leader he admired, he cited Merkel.