Donald Trump Says He Feels ‘Warmly’ About Germany Because His Father Was Born There — But Records Show Fred Trump Was Born in the Bronx
Donald Trump – Trump Germany comment – Trump father born in Germany claim – President Donald Trump again appeared to confuse the birthplaces of his father and paternal grandfather during a media briefing Tuesday, March 3, in Washington, repeating the incorrect claim that his father, Fred Trump, was born in Germany.
Trump and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz spoke to reporters from the Oval Office early Tuesday following a long-planned bilateral meeting at the White House. Responding to a question about U.S.-Israeli military actions against Iran, Trump criticized Spain and the U.K. over the countries’ lack of support.
Spain, Trump claimed, “has been terrible,” and threatened to cut off all trade with the country. “And by the way,” Trump added, “I’m not happy with the U.K. either.”
“The U.K. has been, very, very, uncooperative with that stupid island they have, that they gave away and took a 100-year lease,” Trump said, referring to the U.K.’s decision to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, home to a major U.S.-U.K. military base, to the east African nation of Mauritius.
“They ruin relationships. It’s a shame,” Trump said. “And I love that country. I love it. My mother was born there,” Trump said of the U.K. The president’s mother, Mary Anne Macleod Trump, was born in Scotland and immigrated to the U.S. as a teenager.
“My father was born — he knows all about my father,” Trump added on Tuesday, gesturing to Merz. “My father was born there. There are places that you sort of automatically very, very — feel warmly about.”
Fred Trump was born in the Bronx, New York City. It was the president’s grandparents, Frederich Trump and Elizabeth Christ Trump, who immigrated to the U.S. from Germany.
The president has made the same mistake publicly before. In 2018, he told CBS News that his father had been born in Germany.
“My father is German — was German — born in a very wonderful place in Germany, so I have a very great feeling for Germany,” Trump said during another press briefing in 2019.
