During their first in-person meeting at the White House on Thursday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz presented President Trump with a gilded, framed copy of his grandfather’s birth certificate.
The gold-framed gift, echoing the president’s signature Oval Office aesthetic, paid homage to Friedrich Trump, who was born in Kallstadt, Germany, in 1869 before immigrating to the United States.
“That’s serious German,” Trump said in response to the gift. “I want to thank you for that. That’s beautiful. Thank you very much. Fantastic. We’ll put it up in a place of honor.”
Trump had previously received a “golden pager” from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a gold-plated samurai helmet from Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
The meeting between the two world leaders, held in front of reporters and officials, took an awkward turn when President Trump remarked to the conservative German chancellor that D-Day—when Allied forces invaded Normandy on June 6, 1944, to liberate Europe from Nazi rule—was “not a pleasant day” for his country.
The unusual remark was made while the pair were discussing the three-year conflict between Russia and Ukraine, with the German leader forced to set the historical record straight, according to the New York Post.
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