Body language speaks volumes as Obama meets Merkel (News Feature)

By Peer Meinert and Andre Stahl Nov 11, 2010, 16:16 GMT

Seoul - US President Barack Obama seemed tired and irritable on Thursday as he met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Seoul.

For her own part, Merkel appeared tense - the summit is the first time the two have found themselves on opposing sides, though relations between Berlin and Washington have been under strain for some time.

This was not aided by Merkel's swift rejection on the summit's first day of a US idea to limit the size of a country's trade deficit or surplus.

'Fixing limits for current account surpluses or deficits is neither economically justified nor politically appropriate,' Merkel said.

As the pair posed for the cameras in the Hyatt Hotel it looked very much as if they were trying to reverse earlier impressions of tension - with little success.

They sit close beside one another, talking of cooperation, the problems of the world's economy, but their expressions remain frozen.

The chancellor puts her finger tips together, her gaze peculiarly rigid, Obama seems to be massaging his chin.

It is as if they are trying to avoid eye contact.

'We are working together well and closely,' Merkel says. 'And that is, I believe, absolutely indispensable in a world in which we can only solve problems together.'

Merkel, usually noted for her short, direct statements, has been reduced to convoluted, vague pronouncements on this Thursday afternoon in the South Korean capital.

But the chancellor has reason to be happy, the president is in the middle of a crisis.

The stark lighting depicts Obama's features and greying hair unflatteringly - not yet 50 years old, barely two years in the White House, but the economic crisis which the US is struggling to shake off and his recent trouncing in mid-term elections have taken their toll.

Merkel knows she lacks his easy charm and charisma, even on a good day. But she also knows that since the elections, Obama is on the ropes - he can only dream of Germany's recent growth figures.

And that it should be Germany - the country that in Washington's eyes did not give enough stimulus to spur on its economy in the wake of the crisis, whose population saves too much and spends too little - that is posting stronger growth figures than the US, is a bitter pill for many Americans to swallow.

Germany and the US have seldom been so at one another's throats. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has complained loudly about the US Federal Reserve's decision last week to pump 600 billion dollars into the economy in order to keep interest rates lower and bolster growth.

Merkel too has shown little restraint in criticizing the US. Without mentioning it by name she made it clear while speaking to a conference of 100 top managers from around the world prior to her meeting with Obama that she disliked US attempts to hold back the exporting success of nations like Germany and China.

'This would also be in contrast to the principles of free trade in the world,' she said.

It seems unlikely that Washington will forget such remarks any time soon.

And Merkel cannot resist making a second dig - she points out Germany's healthy export growth rates and an unemployment rate that is now lower than it was before the economic crisis, something that the US is far from achieving.

Industrialized countries must gradually reduce their billion- dollar stimulus programmes, cut budget deficits and debt, she adds - a round of applause from the business elite is assured.

But Obama has also not held back in Seoul. 'Countries like Germany that export heavily benefit from our open markets and us buying their goods,' Obama said.

'The most important thing that the United States can do for the world economy is to grow.' The US was still the world's biggest market, and consequently the most important player, he implied.

Before the pair's meeting social etiquette were apparently done away with.

According to Merkel's entourage, Obama said that even the niceties at the beginning of their meeting could be waived so that they could get straight to business.

With a wink Merkel is said to have remarked, 'but today I would have liked to have heard them.'

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