By Arne Delfs | Bloomberg News
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will travel to Washington for his inaugural meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump next week, almost a month after starting his term leading Europe’s largest economy.
The 69-year-old conservative, who became Germany’s chancellor on May 6, will meet the U.S. leader at the White House on June 5, government spokesman Stefan Kornelius said in an emailed statement on Saturday.
The topics will include Russia’s war in Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East and trade policy, Kornelius said.
The date and format of Merz’s visit are the result of weeks of negotiations between the White House and the chancellery. Merz will stay overnight in Blair House, the president’s guest house. On Thursday after a joint lunch, the two leaders plan to hold a press conference in the White House before Merz flies back to Berlin, according to a senior official.
Crisscrossed
Since taking charge of Germany’s government, Merz has crisscrossed Europe to meet with allies in France, Poland, the Nordics and Ukraine. But he hasn’t made it across the Atlantic, despite promising to improve ties with the Trump administration.
Relations between Washington and Berlin are tense amid issues ranging from trade imbalances to support for Kyiv. European leaders fear that the U.S. president will abandon efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine and dial back military support for the region.
Despite the delay in securing the meeting, Merz is getting his chance to make his case to Trump, unlike his predecessor Olaf Scholz. The Social Democrat never received an invitation to the White House after showing support for former U.S. President Joe Biden and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
Merz’s meeting will come a week after Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul traveled to Washington for talks with U.S. counterpart Marco Rubio. During the 45-minute meeting, both sides stressed their common position on Ukraine and trade, Wadephul told reporters. Rubio didn’t participate in a press conference.
Antagonized
After Trump publicly antagonized Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during visits to the Oval Office, German officials are wary that similar treatment might be in store for Merz.
In addition to tensions over Germany’s trade surplus with the U.S., Trump allies have taken issue with the country’s treatment of the far-right Alternative for Germany. Rubio called a move to classify the second-largest party in the Bundestag as right-wing extremist as “tyranny in disguise.”
Merz has sharply rejected these allegations and called on U.S. politicians to stay out of domestic German politics.
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The chancellor has also suggested that the European Union could retaliate against U.S. technology companies if the trade conflict escalates. A junior member of Merz’s Cabinet proposed a 10% tax on U.S. tech companies, just as the White House pushes for powers to hit back against such levies.
To soften areas of contention, Merz has been eager to show he’s prepared to fulfill some of Trump’s demands. Most notably, he’s committed to putting Germany on a path to more than double defense-related spending to 5% of national output in the coming years.
With assistance from Kevin Whitelaw.
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