Trump, Scholz discuss ‘return to peace in Europe’

US president-elect’s call comes after the German leader had openly backed Joe Biden’s re-election.

United States President-elect Donald Trump and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have agreed to work for “a return to peace in Europe” in their first call since the US election, a German government spokesman has said.

“Both exchanged views on the German-American relationship and the current geopolitical challenges,” Scholz’s spokesperson, Steffen Hebestreit, said in a statement on Sunday.

“The chancellor underlined the government’s willingness to continue the decades-long successful cooperation between the governments of both countries. They also agreed to work together towards a return to peace in Europe.”

Trump’s return to the White House is being closely watched in Europe for how it might affect Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Trump, who has criticised US President Joe Biden’s support for Kyiv, has claimed that Russia would never have invaded Ukraine if he were president and that he would be able to end the conflict “in 24 hours”.

On Sunday, The Washington Post reported that Trump had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin and pressed him not to escalate the war in Ukraine.

During the call from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Thursday, Trump reminded Putin of Washington’s considerable military presence in Europe, the Post reported, citing an unnamed person familiar with the matter.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with Trump on Wednesday in a call notably joined by tech billionaire Elon Musk, one of Trump’s most powerful backers.

Trump’s call with Scholz notably comes after the Republican spoke with several leaders of smaller European countries, including French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.

During the US election campaign, Scholz, who is facing snap elections early next year following the collapse of his governing coalition, criticised Trump as divisive and openly expressed his preference for Biden.

During Trump’s first term in office, his administration’s relations with Scholz’s predecessor and coalition partner Angela Merkel were often strained.

In office, Trump cast Berlin as a free-rider on the protection of the US military and announced plans to cut the number of US troops stationed in Germany by about one-quarter.

On Wednesday, Musk welcomed the collapse of Scholz’s coalition, labelling him a “fool” in a post in German on X.

Trump has suggested that Musk could join his administration as a so-called “secretary of cost-cutting”.

The billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX has clashed with European officials and regulators on multiple fronts, including over alleged breaches of the Digital Services Act by X, which he also owns.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies