Germany sought to calm European anxieties over Donald Trump’s presidency on Monday after he dismissed Nato as “obsolete” and said he believed the EU would break up.

“I believe we Europeans have our fate in our own hands,” Angela Merkel said in Berlin. “I'm personally going to wait until the American president takes office, and then we will naturally work with him on all levels and see what kind of agreements we can reach.”

Mrs Merkel spoke out after comments by Mr Trump in a joint interview with the Times and Germany’s Bild newspaper unnerved governments across the continent and caused panicked meetings in Brussels.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German foreign minister, spoke of “astonishment and anxiety” among European leaders at the president-elect’s comments.