A frosty handshake with France’s new President got all the headlines at the end of Donald Trump’s European tour, but it was German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s views on his visit that left onlookers with a deeper sense of unease. 

After meeting with the US president, Ms Merkel hinted that Europe must go it alone to prosper in a new world order where Mr Trump is in power.

“The times when we could fully rely on others have passed us by a little bit, that’s what I’ve experienced in recent days,” she said while speaking at an event in Munich, just days after after a Group of Seven (G7) summit marked by strains between Mr Trump and his Western allies.

“For that reason, I can only say: we Europeans really have to take our fate into our own hands.

“There could be rocky times ahead where old alliances can no longer be taken for granted.

“Of course, that can only be done in a spirit of friendship with the United States and Britain,” Ms Merkel said.

“But we have to wage our own fight for our future, as Europeans, for our fate.”

Ms Merkel’s comments came as newly elected French President Emmanuelle Macron revealed that his awkward handshake with Mr Trump was “a moment of truth” designed to show that he’s no pushover.

Mr Macron told a Sunday newspaper in France that “my handshake with him, it wasn’t innocent”.

“One must show that you won’t make small concessions, even symbolic ones, but also not over-publicise things, either,” he said.

“I don’t believe in diplomacy through public criticism but through bilateral dialogue. I don’t let anything pass. That is how you get respect.”

Mr Macron’s office confirmed the veracity of the President’s comments in Le Journal du Dimanche.

At their first meeting, ahead of a NATO summit in Brussels on Thursday, the two men locked hands for so long that knuckles started turning white in what many interpreted as an alpha-male stand-off.

After some friendly chatter, the two gripped each other’s hands so tightly before the cameras that their jaws seemed to clench. It looked like Mr Trump was ready to pull away first but Mr Macron wasn’t quite ready to disengage.

Footage from the summit, tweeted by Mr Macron himself, showed him approaching a group of NATO leaders, headed by Ms Merkel and Mr Trump.

Mr Macron walks down the path heading straight towards Mr Trump, but at the last moment veers off to greet Ms Merkel and other leaders.

Mr Macron finally turns his attention to Mr Trump, who characteristically yanks Mr Macron’s arm into a dominating handshake.

Mr Trump appears to pull Mr Macron’s hand so hard that the French President had to use his other arm to set himself free – their second awkward moment that was caught on cameras and went viral in just one day.

À Bruxelles, unis avec nos alliés de @NATO. pic.twitter.com/7nyaoI8hki

— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) May 25, 2017

Most reports out of the G7 summit in Sicily saw Mr Trump at odds with the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.

The group managed to agree on the wording of goals for trade, but Mr Trump was the lone voice in disagreement on climate change policy.

Ms Merkel called that “extremely problematic, not to say very unsatisfactory”.

The German chancellor also said that there was resistance at the meeting to drafting language that would have called for more aid for refugees.

– with DPA/AAP