i m going to instruct my treasury secretary to label china a currency manipulator. the greatest in the world. that was last summer in akron, ohio. in just the past few days, donald trump has made some stark policy u-turns from his positions during the campaign. for starters, on nato, on russia, if not putin, on syria, on china, on that last topic the wall street journal reported the following today, trump says the dollar is getting too strong and he won t label china a currency manipulator. he said, quote, i think our dollar is getting too strong and partially that s my fault, because people have confidence inme. but that will hurt timately.
argued the fight against terrorism translator: does in no way justify a general be suspicion against people of certain beliefs. reporter: as he applauded great britain s vote to leave the european union i think brexit will be a wonderful thing for your country. reporter: merkel has promised germany will stand firmly with europe and won t be pushed around in any trade deals. they have disagreed on syria, on nato, on russia, and trump appears in no way eager to given the give the chancellor a pass. who do you trust more, angela merkel or vladimir putin? i start off trusting both but let s see how long that lasts. it may not last long at all. reporter: but merkel seems ready to at least give the new president some time. translator: even if about there are differing opinions, xlo compromises and possibilities are always best to be made when there is a respectful exchange. reporter: some close to merkel say she prepared extensively for this first
most important meeting so far and maybe one of the most important meetings of the trump presidency, because german is the leader of the europe. merkel is really the one who is calling the shots on the other side of the atlantic. europe is our best partner. and so it s really important for trump to carve out a working relationship with merkel. the problem is on european integration, on trade, on nato, on immigration, on climate change, they are really living on opposite planets. the question is can they come into the oval office today and find a way of building a working relationship. what does angela merkel need to get out of this meeting and what does the president need to get out of it? america wanmerkel wants to se can work with him, that she can tame president trump, if you will, and bring him back to the moderate center, someone who believes in nato, europe as america s best partner, essentially to kind of continue the traditions of the post world war ii order.
what s been happening, including in the last week in europe, you have consistently cabinet officials saying things that are different than what the president has said, on nato, on israel, on russia, including russian sanctions. so i think if you re tillerson coming in, it s not that he has not found the right person. some of it may be that they don t have a cabinet process to ensure discipline in the message, and he doesn t want to be saying to himself, i don t want to say something different than what the president is saying, which is what happened this week with vice president mike pence. congressman? the number one thing we need to do is get all the cabinet members and key advisers that have to have senate approval, we need to get them in place as soon as possible. that will help establish the goals and the direction and the communication. and i think that the senate democrats could do their part and say, you know what, the republicans approved the obama cabinet and key advisers
mitchell has more. reporter: some walked back the president s anxious words to its allies. on nato nato is obsolete. reporter: mr. trump says nato is a fan but wants them to pay their fair share. they re not paying their bills! reporter: he was grilled on the stage from foreign affairs. who should we listen to, you or the president trump? the president wanted me to come here for the united states. he s expressed strong support on nato. we should have kept the oil but okay. maybe you ll have another chance. reporter: but that would be a war crime. the defense secretary saying it won t happen. we re not in iraq to seize anybody s oil. reporter: and on refugees in terror, the president igniting a firestorm over sweden. you look at what s happening last night in sweden, sweden, who would believe this, sweden?