Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, rejected a phone call in January 2021 from Joe Biden, who wanted to make his first call as US president specifically to her, the Wall Street Journal reports
“After his inauguration and move to the White House in January, Biden decided that his first call to a foreign leader would be to Angela Merkel, signalling a return to transatlantic stability after the instability of the Trump era. But the German chancellor had other plans. She declined the offer of a call that Friday afternoon because she had to leave for her country cottage near Berlin”, – the newspaper said, citing advisers without specifying which side.
Merkel considered such a gesture on the part of the American leader inappropriate and asked her aides to set a different date for the talks. As a result, the conversation took place on Monday, January 25, when the Chancellor returned to work. As a result, the first person Biden called was Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The US president spoke to him on January 23.