German Chancellor Angela Merkel‘s meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House has been postponed thanks to winter storm Stella, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer announced at his daily briefing Monday.
Merkel and Trump were scheduled to meet on Tuesday, March 14. The two spoke by phone and agreed it should be postponed to Friday, said Spicer. Thousands of flights have already been cancelled ahead of the snowstorm.
The President has been critical of Merkel’s willingness to bring refugees into Germany in the past; he tweeted in December 2015 that she was “ruining the country.” Shortly after Trump’s first immigration ban, Merkel got on a call with Trump to “explain the obligations of the refugee convention to the new president,” according to the Guardian. While a press release for the call did not mention the ban, it did mention NATO and an intention to “deepen bilateral relations in the coming years,” the Guardian reported.
Trump is also interested in Merkel’s advice on how to approach working with Russia, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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Write to Alana Abramson at Alana.Abramson@time.com