WASHINGTON: Donald Trump wants a “great relationship” with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a member of his transition team said, after the US president-elect sparked anger with criticism of her and NATO.

Anthony Scaramucci, a hedge-fund investor who is representing the Trump team at the World Economic Forum in Davos, said the next US president was a “man of peace” who “recognizes the importance of the long-term alliances that we have got with Europe.”

But he acknowledged that Trump is also seeking to build bridges with Russian President Vladimir Putin, moving on from hostilities over the war in Syria, Ukraine and allegations of state-sponsored cyberattacks.

“He wants to have a great relationship with Angela Merkel as he does with President Putin,” Scaramucci said in Davos, where 3,000 members of the political and business elite are gathered for annual talks.

“I do not see him as somebody who wants to have a bad relationship with people and he certainly does not view Europe as weak.

“In the next six months, in the next year, the relationship between the US and Europe will be stronger than ever,” Scaramucci said.

But he added: “I think he said something that you guys should listen to — that we have to make sure that our structures, our alliances or charters are in preparation for the 21st and 22nd century, not the 20th century.”

Trump unleashed a volley of attacks on Europe in a hard-hitting interview with two European newspapers on Sunday, branding NATO “obsolete” and saying more countries would leave the European Union after Britain.

The Republican billionaire also criticized Merkel’s “catastrophic” decision to open Germany’s borders to hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants.

Backlash in Europe

Despite a backlash in Europe over the comments, Scaramucci said the interview reflected Trump’s “authenticity,” adding: “You should find this refreshing and not alarming. He is open with his views.”

The senior adviser to Trump also said his comments about the NATO being “obsolete” reflect how the world has changed, but should not be interpreted as meaning that it needs to be consigned to history.

“NATO is working but there are things about it that need to change and there are parts of it that are, in the words of Trump, ‘obsolete’,” Scaramucci said.

Scaramucci also said that the US wanted to have a “phenomenal relationship” with China.

He said the focus should now be on finding common cause with Russia.

“Let us try to find a way to get along better (with Russia). We need to focus less on combating Communism and more on rejecting radical Islam,” he said.

Trump’s comments about countries needing to pay their way in NATO reflected his background as a businessman and property developer and made sense, Scaramucci said.

Scaramucci also said the US wanted to create more symmetry in trade agreements and have a “phenomenal relationship” with China, calling on Beijing to “reach now toward us and allow us to create this symmetry.”

Addressing concerns which have been raised about the way Trump has communicated his ideas and thoughts so far, Scaramucci said people should not be worried or alarmed by his tweets.

‘Reaganesque’ speech

Trump’s inauguration speech would be “Reaganesque,” he added, in reference to former US President Ronald Reagan.

As for his own business interests, Scaramucci said he had signed a deal for the sale of his Skybridge hedge fund.

European officials say they expect Trump to hear about the importance of the US-European alliance not only from diplomats and generals, but from fellow businessmen who recognize the need for close ties with the world’s biggest trading bloc.

Trump “would be well-advised to ask his international American companies how much sense it makes to operate in a single market in Europe. Then perhaps a sense of understanding would prevail,” said Johannes Hahn, the European Commissioner in charge of the bloc’s future expansion.

Still, despite the reassurance Europeans take from Trump’s cabinet picks, one EU diplomat said the conclusion in Brussels was that they were dealing with “a big unknown” in Trump himself. “Whatever Tillerson, Mattis and others say, it is not necessarily the new administration’s policy.”

Valuable lesson

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Europe could learn a valuable lesson from a skeptical Washington: European countries need to stick together to defend themselves.

“The best way to defend Europe, that’s what Mr. Trump is inviting us to do, is to remain united, is to stand together and not forget that the strength of Europeans is their unity,” Ayrault said.

Behind the scenes, European officials say they are still confident that the architecture of the Western security alliance will survive a Trump presidency.

Many say they have taken heart from the more conventional foreign policy positions described by Trump’s picks for defense secretary and secretary of state, Gen. James Mattis and Exxon-Mobil ex-CEO Rex Tillerson, at confirmation hearings.

They also point to the strong support for NATO and the firm line on Russia expressed by senators from Trump’s Republican Party during the questioning.

Ultimately, they expect the post-World War II Western alliance to withstand a more skeptical approach from the White House, thanks to deep institutional understanding of its benefits on both sides of the Atlantic.

A stepped-up schedule of summits and meetings will give early chances to clear the air.

“We are working on the basis that Trump will listen to Mattis, Tillerson and foreign policy Republicans,” said a senior EU diplomat involved in foreign policy planning in Brussels.