United States President-elect Donald Trump and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have agreed to work for “a return to peace in Europe” in their first call since the US election, a German government spokesman has said,
Al Jazeera reports.
“Both exchanged views on the German-American relationship and the current geopolitical challenges,” Scholz’s spokesperson, Steffen Hebestreit, said in a statement on Sunday.
“The chancellor underlined the government’s willingness to continue the decades-long successful cooperation between the governments of both countries. They also agreed to work together towards a return to peace in Europe.”
Trump’s return to the White House is being closely watched in Europe for how it might affect Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Trump, who has criticised US President Joe Biden’s support for Kyiv, has claimed that Russia would never have invaded Ukraine if he were president and that he would be able to end the conflict “in 24 hours”.
On Sunday, The Washington Post reported that Trump had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin and pressed him not to escalate the war in Ukraine.
During the call from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Thursday, Trump reminded Putin of Washington’s considerable military presence in Europe, the Post reported, citing an unnamed person familiar with the matter.
