FILE PHOTO: German Chancellor Angela Merkel gives a speech at the demographic summit in Berlin, Germany, March 16, 2017. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch/File Photo

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone call with the Chinese president, in which they agreed to work for free trade, had no connection to her visit to Washington that is overshadowed by trade issues, a German government spokesman said on Friday.

Merkel had been due to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on Tuesday but had to postpone the meeting until Friday due to bad weather.

On Merkel’s call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, German government spokesman Georg Streiter said: “This phone call had been planned for a long time and was in no way connected to Merkel’s trip to Washington.”