Trump has 'enormous respect' for Merkel, says aide
Trump would win trade war with China, says aide
(about 1 hour later)
One of Donald Trump's closest advisers has told the BBC the US president-elect's criticism of German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been misinterpreted.
One of Donald Trump's closest advisers has told the BBC that the US would win a trade war with China.
In an interview, Mr Trump had said Mrs Merkel had made an "utterly catastrophic mistake by letting all these illegals into the country".
Anthony Scaramucci warned that if China chose to retaliate when the Trump administration imposed tariffs on imports, it would cost them "way more" than it would cost the US.
But Anthony Scaramucci said the incoming president had an "enormous amount of respect for her".
He added the current trade relationship was "more favourable to China than us".
He added that Mr Trump was "trying to be complimentary" in the interview.
The comments came just as China's President Xi warned that no-one would "emerge as a winner in a trade war".
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mr Scaramucci, who will enter the White House on Friday as a senior adviser to the president, acknowledged that Mr Trump's comments had been received by many as an attack on the European community, but dismissed reports of a feud between the US and German administrations.
China goes big in Davos - and here's why
"You shouldn't be worried," he told the BBC.
Why is Xi Jinping going to Davos?
"We have a very longstanding, very close cohesive relationship with western Europe and that will remain in place during the Trump administration."
Davos coverage in full
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In the first address to the World Economic Forum by a Chinese president, Mr Xi gave a staunch defence of globalisation and attacked protectionism.
In the controversial interview with The Times and Germany's Bild, Mr Trump also appeared to put Russia's Vladimir Putin and Chancellor Merkel on an equal footing, saying he would "start off trusting both".
"Pursuing protectionism is just like locking oneself in a dark room. While wind and rain may be kept outside, so are light and air. No-one will emerge as a winner in a trade war," he told the audience.
But Mr Scaramucci denied that the president-elect was being disparaging of Mrs Merkel.
"China will keep its door wide open and not close it," he added.
"He was basically saying that he holds her in a tremendous amount of respect, but she may have made some mistake as it related to the influx of immigration, which from what I have read from the German press, she has admitted to. So I don't understand why this is such an international outcry."
During his election campaign, Mr Trump floated the idea of a 45% tariff on goods from China.
Mr Scaramucci, who is the only member of the Trump administration to attend this year's World Economic Forum, also predicted that European leaders would warm to the incoming president.
Mr Scaramucci, who will enter the White House on Friday as a senior adviser to the president, called the relationship with China "asymmetrical", and downplayed the nation's ability to exact revenge on the US.
"Over the next two to three years… I think Chancellor Merkel will respect the strength of President Trump. I think she will have a great relationship with him."
"What are they going to do, [are] they going to move against our move for fairness?
"That's going to cost them more, way more than it is ever going to cost us, and I think they know that."