--- title: Donald Trump Doesn't Shake Angela Merkel's Hand: Watch description: At a photo op with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Donald Trump said little and appeared to refuse a handshake canonical: https://time.com/4705483/president-trump-angela-merkel-handshake/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-17T18:00:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:54:30.816Z article:section: Politics og:title: Angela Merkel Asked President Trump to Shake Hands. He Appeared to Ignore Her og:description: Merkel appears to quietly ask Trump, "do you want to have a handshake?" og:url: https://time.com/4705483/president-trump-angela-merkel-handshake/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte0f1bceab41a293a/6988bedb656a3f5ddebcf305/donald-trump-merkel.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: US-GERMANY-TRUMP-MERKEL og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Angela Merkel Asked President Trump to Shake Hands. He Appeared to Ignore Her twitter:description: Merkel appears to quietly ask Trump, "do you want to have a handshake?" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte0f1bceab41a293a/6988bedb656a3f5ddebcf305/donald-trump-merkel.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Angela Merkel Asked President Trump to Shake Hands. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Mar 17, 2017 6:00 PM UTC  US President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel meet in the Oval Office of the White House on March 17, 2017. US President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel meet in the Oval Office of the White House on March 17, 2017.Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Mar 17, 2017 6:00 PM UTC At a [photo op with German Chancellor Angela Merkel](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/03/17/donald-trump-angela-merkel/99295936/), [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/4705140/donald-trump-twitter-north-korea/) said little and appeared to refuse a handshake suggested by the German leader. In a video of the incident, reporters called for Trump and Merkel to shake hands at the end of the photo op, as is customary during meetings between foreign leaders. Hearing the calls for a handshake, Merkel appears to quietly ask Trump, “do you want to have a handshake?” Trump either does not hear her or ignores her request. They do not shake hands. Trump has criticized Merkel’s lenient migration policy in Germany as “catastrophic” and Merkel has criticized Trump’s efforts to ban immigrants from Muslim-majority countries. The [two leaders were expected to discuss](http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/17/520511276/watch-live-after-first-face-to-face-meeting-trump-and-merkel-address-media) the future of NATO and the EU in their first face-to-face meeting. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4705483/president-trump-angela-merkel-handshake/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4705483/president-trump-angela-merkel-handshake/"},"headline":"Angela Merkel Asked President Trump to Shake Hands. 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