'A GREAT meeting': Trump defends his chilly summit with Merkel on Twitter but immediately blasts Germany for owing NATO 'vast sums of money'

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President Donald Trump defended his chilly summit with Angela Merkel on Twitter Saturday, insisting it was a 'great meeting' - and immediately blasting Germany for owing what he said were 'vast sums of money' to NATO.

He claimed that all reports criticizing their meeting were 'fake news' - the day after giving the German chancellor a lecture on immigration but no Oval Office handshake or warm words about her country.

'Despite what you have heard from the FAKE NEWS, I had a GREAT meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel,' Trump tweeted Saturday morning.

'Nevertheless, Germany owes vast sums of money to NATO & the United States must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defense it provides to Germany!'

The mogul had his chilliest summit yet with a foreign leader as he met with the German chancellor for the first time Friday.  

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President Donald Trump defended his chilly summit with Angela Merkel on Twitter Saturday morning, insisting it was a 'great meeting' despite many reports to the contrary

Immediately after insisting the summit went great, the mogul immediately went on to blast Germany for owing what he called 'vast sums of money' to NATO

President Trump had his chilliest summit yet with a foreign leader as he met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel Friday for the first time

Trump has long lamented the the US is getting what he has painted as an unfair deal with NATO.

Only five out of the alliance's 28 countries currently meet their targets for payment: the US, the UK, Estonia, Poland and Greece.

Germany spent 1.19 per cent of its GDP last year on defense, as previously reported by CNN, and is one of several major economies lagging behind on their contributions.

Trump, who is spending the weekend at his Mar-A-Lago resort, earned unfavorable words from the German press after his meeting with Merkel, with Der Spiegel calling him 'an unsophisticated yet self-absorbed political neophyte' in comparison to the 'experienced' chancellor.

Tabloid Bild carried a picture of the world leaders sitting awkwardly next to each other, while also pointing out how 'unusual' it was that Merkel found herself seated next to Trump's daughter Ivanka - who has no official role in the administration.

It said the German leader appeared 'irritated'.

Weekly news magazine Der Spiegel, which previously ran a controversial cartoon of Trump beheading the Statue of Liberty, also picked up on the awkwardness between the two leaders, declaring that 'Merkel and Trump do not work'.

'There are two politicians who could hardly be more contradictory', the news magazine added.  

Other newspapers pointed out that Merkel was having to navigate the fact that many of her citizens are hostile to the American president, and the chancellor - who is facing a stiff fight to hold onto her job in the upcoming elections - may not want to seem too warm towards Trump.

'A vast majority of the German public isn't well-inclined towards Trump,' said Süddeutsche Zeitung. 'A lot of people of people will watch closely how Merkel conducts herself.'

'Finding the right measure of warmth and distance won't be easy,' Der Spiegel added.  

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Ivanka Trump, senior adviser Jared Kushner (Ivanka'a husband) and Vice President Mike Pence listen during a news conference with President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the East Room of the White House

Ivanka wore a dark blue dress for the occasion. She participated in a meeting earlier in the day with Merkel and her father. She often shows up at the White House when her father has meetings with business leaders

Talks began with a warm welcome outside the West Wing but turned cold as Trump blew off an attempted handshake in the Oval Office and disagreed publicly with Merkel on almost every major international issue 

Talks began Friday with a warm welcome outside the West Wing but turned cold as Trump blew off an attempted handshake in the Oval Office and disagreed publicly with Merkel on almost every major international issue.

Trump opened up a joint news conference that his daughter Ivanka attended with a slap at Merkel over her open-door refugee policy. Declaring that 'immigration is a privilege, not a right,' Trump said the safety of the countries' citizens 'must always come first without question.'

He also pushed for her country to live up to its NATO commitment, stressing the 'need for our NATO allies to pay their fair share for the cost of defense.'

Merkel told him it has always been her belief that it is 'much, much better to talk to one another and not about one another' - a reference to the many disparaging statements Trump made on the campaign trail about her leadership. 

Obama and Merkel eventually became close friends, but Trump struggled to put himself on similar footing with his German counterpart on Friday. 

He had previously accused her of 'ruining Germany' for allowing an influx of refugees from Syria into her country.

As the two sat down for their first face-to-face meeting since his election, Trump called it a 'great honor' to meet her.

Helping to break the ice at a joint meeting with business executives was Germany's support for apprenticeship programs, something Trump, the former 'Apprentice' star, couldn't help but point out.

'Both Germany and the United States are pioneering job-training programs,' Trump said. Here in the United States, companies have created revolutionary high-tech and online courses and, of course, for decades Germany has been a model for highly successful apprenticeship – that's a name I like, apprentice – apprenticeship programs,' Trump said. 

His praise of the German apprentice model was in contrast to his ripping of the nation's immigration policy. At one point, he predicted the German's would 'riot' over Merkel's policy of accepting refugees. 

GETTING TO KNOW YOU: Ivanka sat next to Chancellor Merkel, and the two women appeared to hit it off - at least better than Merkel did with Ivanka's father

The two sat awkwardly in the Oval Office earlier while photographers snapped photos.

When Merkel asked for a handshake, Trump looked directly ahead and did not take the opportunity, missing the gesture of friendship, perhaps, as cameras loudly flashed.

But Trump offered warm words for Merkel at the end of his remarks. 'I want to thank you very much. It’s a great honor to have you in the White House,' he said. 'It’s a great honor to have you in the United States, and I look forward to spending time with you,' Trump said.

He repeated the greeting at the top of their joint news conference, but that was it. He did not say, as he had following meetings with other foreign leaders, that he expects the two of them to become great friends. Nor did he gush about his love for her mother country, even though his family has roots in Germany.

Instead, he talked about the 'close friendship between America and Germany' that is built on the nations' 'shared values.'

'We cherish individual rights, we uphold the rule of law and we seek peace among nations. Our alliance is a symbol of strength and cooperation to the world. It is the foundation of a very, very hopeful future,' he said.

Moments before Trump had already needled Merkel over her nation's overdue contributions to NATO. 'Many nations owe vast sums of money from past years and it is very unfair to the United States,' he said. 'These nations must pay what they owe.' 

Talking about trade, Trump argued that millions of US workers have been 'left behind' in the age of globalization.  

'The United States will respect historic institutions and we will also recognize the right of free people to manage their own destiny,' he stated. 

Merkel was scheduled to visit with Trump on Tuesday. A snowstorm forced them to postpone their plans to Friday

The itinerary included discussions on strengthening NATO, fighting the Islamic State group and resolving Ukraine's conflict, all matters that require close cooperation between the U.S. and Germany

Trump has held up Germany as justification for his travel restrictions and lambasted Merkel for opening her country up to refugees

AWKWARD: After an Oval Office meeting this morning the leaders of the Western world's most influential counties played nice for the cameras, saying in English and German that it went well

Trump was later cast as an 'isolationist' by a German reporter. 'I'm not an isolationist,' Trump replied, even though the question was directed at Merkel. 

'The United States has been treated very, very unfairly by many countries over the years. And that's going to stop,' he stated. 'I'm a free trader, but I'm also a fair trader. And our free trade has led to a lot of bad things happening.'

Merkel said in her answer, 'We have to protect our external borders...and there we have to work on the basis of mutual interest with our neighbors, migration, immigration, integration, has to be worked on obviously, traffickers have to be stopped. 

'But this has to be done by looking at the refugees as well, giving them opportunities to shape their own lives and where they are. Help countries who right now are not an inability to do so, sometimes because they have civil war.

'I think that's the right way of going about it. And this is obviously, where we have an exchange of views about it, but my position is the one I've just set out for you.'

Trump previously said he wanted a close working relationship with Merkel if he were elected, despite their differences. Their interactions Friday suggested it may not possible after all of the derisive campaign-time comments he made about her attitude toward refugees.

'You watch what happens to Angela Merkel, who I always thought of as a very good leader until she did this. I don't know what went wrong with her,' then-candidate Trump said of her refugee at an August rally in Virginia. 'What went wrong? Angela, what happened?'

Since being elected, Trump has held up Germany as a reason for restricted travel and a ban on refugees.

After the Oval Office meeting, the leaders of the Western world's most influential countries played nice for the cameras, saying in English and German that the summit went well.

Trump didn't go into detail, telling reporters only: 'We talked about lots of things.'

They'll hold a roundtable discussion next with US and German leaders and take questions at a join news conference later

'We talked about lots of things,' Trump told reporters, without going into detail

Trump hailed German's apprenticeship programs – and seated daughter Ivanka next to Chancellor Angela Merkel

President Donald Trump and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel wait for a meeting with business leaders in the Cabinet Room of the White House

The German Air Force plane Airbus A340 'Theodor Heuss' sits on the tarmac after the arrival of German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the area of the German Armed Forces at the Washington Dulles International Airport in Washington on Thursday night