German Chancellor gives Trump a ‘TRUMP 47’ soccer jersey as belated birthday gift at G7 summit
Article excerpt
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz presented President Trump with a custom Germany soccer jersey bearing his name and the number 47 at the G7 summit, marking a belated birthday gift. The jersey, personalized with Trump's name on the back and his presidential number, captured a lighthearted diplomatic moment between the two leaders. The gesture reflected the informal, gift-exchange tradition at international summits while nodding to Trump's identity as the 47th president. Such personal touches at high-level meetings often serve as diplomatic icebreakers and photo opportunities for international relations.
World leaders converged at the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, for a working session on Tuesday morning. Leaders of the G7 countries, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and President of the European Union Ursula von der Leyen were seated at a round table to discuss the world’s most pressing geopolitical matters. Ahead of the beginning of the meeting, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz walked over to President Donald Trump and gifted him a Germany World Cup jersey with the name “Trump” in the traditional spot for a player’s last name and the number 47 on the jersey.
Shortly before the exchange, Trump, Merz, United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italy Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, French President Emanuel Macron, Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney, and Japan Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi huddled in a circle and shook hands. Many of these leaders have had contentious relations over the last several months, primarily regarding the military conflict with Iran. After exchanging pleasantries, they began to sit at a round table one by one.
Trump sat next to Starmer, who sat next to Merz. Merz then walked over and gave Trump the jersey, who unfolded it and displayed it for all to see. Starmer smiled as Merz handed Trump the jersey, and Meloni laughed, while sitting across the table. Trump smiled, shook hands with Merz after receiving the jersey, and took a picture of him holding it up.
“That’s great,” Trump could be heard saying after receiving the jersey.
Merz’s gift to Trump came after months of tension between the world leaders. In April, while speaking before a German school in the German town of Marsberg, he said that Iran was embarrassing the United States, claiming that “an entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership.”
“The Iranians are obviously very skilled at negotiating, or rather, very skillful at not negotiating, letting the Americans travel to Islamabad and then leave again without any result,” said Merz in April.
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Trump responded to Merz’s comments two days later, claiming that the German chancellor was unknowledgeable on the situation and emphasized that Iran couldn’t have a nuclear weapon, which was Trump’s stated reason for the military operations against Iran.
“The Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz, thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social account in late April. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about! If Iran had a Nuclear Weapon, the whole World would be held hostage.”