Trump congratulates Merkel on election victory

President Trump spoke to German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday to congratulate her party on winning a key election over the weekend, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said.

Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union won a closely watched state election that was widely viewed as a test of Merkel’s political strength ahead of her personal reelection bid later this year.

Trump and Merkel met at the White House earlier this month. There are deep and lingering divisions between the two leaders.

{mosads}Trump has been highly critical of Merkel’s immigration policies, saying that her open-borders policy has led to an immigration crisis in which potentially dangerous people from Middle Eastern countries have failed to assimilate. 

The president also said that he pressed Merkel to increase Germany’s spending on defense in order to bolster NATO, arguing that the U.S. is shouldering an undue burden.