German Chancellor Scholz revealed that his conversation with U.S. President-elect Trump was detailed and productive.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz told German media that he was pleasantly surprised by his conversation with Donald Trump following the Republican’s reelection as U.S. President last week.
“This may come as a surprise, but it was a very detailed and good conversation with the incoming U.S. President,” Scholz said in an interview published by Süddeutsche Zeitung on Friday, November 15th.
Scholz mentioned that during the call on November 10th, they “thoroughly discussed the issue of Ukraine.” While he emphasized that revealing details of the call was inappropriate, he also added that he felt Trump’s stance was “more different than people usually imagine.”
Reports also stated that Scholz mentioned that he had been discussing the Ukraine conflict with the U.S. President-elect for “some time” and believed Trump’s position was “more subtle than people generally think.” He did not elaborate on his statement.
According to German media, on Friday, Scholz had a one-hour phone call with Russian President Putin, marking the first direct communication between the two leaders in nearly two years.
When asked during the Süddeutsche Zeitung interview if he was concerned about Trump and Putin reaching an agreement on the Ukraine issue, Scholz replied, “There were no signs of that nature in my conversation with Trump.”
Scholz also emphasized in the interview that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine had not achieved its stated goals, as Russia had not successfully conquered the entire country, while NATO had added Finland and Sweden as members and was “stronger than ever.”
When asked why Putin should be engaged in negotiations whenever Russia makes military progress, Scholz said that speculations about what was on Putin’s mind were inconclusive.
“We have to find out – including discussing it with him,” Scholz said.
During his campaign, Trump promised to end the Ukraine conflict as soon as possible, without elaborating on how he planned to achieve this goal. Recently, Trump reiterated that his administration would focus on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine because “it has to stop.”
Previously, a German government spokesperson stated that in their first post-election call, U.S. President-elect Trump and German Chancellor Scholz agreed to work towards “restoring peace in Europe.”
Chancellor Scholz’s spokesperson, Steffen Hebestreit, said in a statement on Sunday, November 10th, “Both sides exchanged views on German-American relations and current geopolitical challenges.”
“The Chancellor emphasized the government’s willingness to continue the successful cooperation between the two countries for decades. They also agreed to jointly work towards restoring peace in Europe,” Hebestreit said.