Merkel waits at the Obama meeting, lessons on the subject

Merkel welcomed former US President Barack Obama to Berlin today, and the pair were seen in a warm embrace after a meeting in the German presidency.

This warm welcome to Obama is a big contrast compared to the relations the Chancellor has with current President Donald Trump.

Obama had earlier said that Merkel was one of his favorite international partners during his time in the ovale office.

Obama arrived in Germany yesterday and delivered a speech to the 14,000 people at the World Summit of Leadership held in Koln.

Today, the two are believed to have discussed transatlantic relations. This comes after poor relations between Germany and the United States, with President Trump accusing Merkel of cutting the German state's military spending below NATO quotas.

Germany's last budget plan, unveiled last month, showed that defence spending fell below the 2% quota of GDP expected by NATO member states.

Merkel had rejected these criticisms, saying Germany did not want assistance to developing states in favour of military spending.

This month, President Trump, complaining about the way Germany pays its share in NATO, said his father was born in this country.

Trump repeated a mistake he made in public at least twice, saying his father came from Germany, as his father was actually born in New York, while his grandfather was born in Calstad, a village in Germany.

He did so during a press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

Norwegian politician has supported the American president in his cause of increasing the expenditures of NATO members in the military.