Berlin, Germany - Donald Trump has a fascination with dictators like Russian President Vladimir Putin, ex-German chancellor Angela Merkel says in her memoirs, excerpts of which were published on Thursday.

At their first meeting in Washington in March 2017 after Trump was elected to his first term in the White House, the US leader "asked me a series of questions," Merkel wrote in one sections of the book released by newspaper Die Zeit.

Trump wanted to know about "my East German background and my relationship with Putin. He was clearly very fascinated by the Russian president," she said.

"In the years that followed, I had the impression that has was captivated by politicians with autocratic and dictatorial tendencies."

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Merkel's memoir, Freedom – co-written with her longtime political adviser Beate Baumann – is expected to shed new light on Merkel's four terms in office between 2005 and 2021, during which she was the world's most powerful woman.

Merkel also wrote that she flew home after first meeting Trump with "a bad feeling."

The then-president greeted Merkel with a handshake in front of the press, but when journalists asked for a second handshake he ignored them, she said.

Merkel whispered to him that they should shake hands again, but he did not take the hint.

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During their meeting, Trump repeated many of the criticisms he had made of Germany during his election campaign.

"He claimed that I had ruined Germany by taking in so many refugees in 2015 and 2016, accused us of spending too little on defense and criticized us for unfair trade practices," Merkel said.

The sight of many German cars on the streets of New York in particular had been "a thorn in his side."

"We were talking on two different levels – Trump on the emotional level, me on the factual level. When he did pay attention to my arguments, it was mostly just to turn them into new accusations," she added.

"Resolving the issues raised did not appear to be his goal."

Merkel concluded from the meeting that there would be "no joint work for an interconnected world with Trump."

"He judged everything from the perspective of the real estate entrepreneur he had been before politics..."

"For him, all countries were in competition with each other and the success of one meant the failure of the other."