Friedrich Merz, the newly inaugurated German chancellor, will take a seat in the Oval Office on Thursday for his first in-person meeting with US President Donald Trump. <\/p>\n
The meeting comes as a series of high-stakes international issues once again come to the fore. Trump has issued another round of warnings to the European Union on tariffs; the war in Ukraine appears no closer to ending; and pressure is mounting on Israel over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza. <\/p>\n
Since taking office, Merz has been on a tour of European capitals, meeting with France\u2019s Emmanuel Macron, Britain\u2019s Keir Starmer and Poland\u2019s Donald Tusk \u2013 before they all appeared in Kyiv alongside Ukraine\u2019s President Volodymyr Zelensky in a show of European unity. <\/p>\n
The one major omission has been a meeting with Trump. While there have been phone calls between the two, the handshake accompanied by the frantic clicks of camera shutters will mark the start of the new German-US relationship. <\/p>\n
Germany\u2019s status as the economic powerhouse of Europe and Merz\u2019s repositioning of the country as a leader in European security \u2013 which includes a commitment to beef up its military and fall in line with Trump\u2019s demands for NATO members to increase defense spending \u2013 underscore the importance of a successful encounter. <\/p>\n
There is also the chance of an explosive diplomatic broadside, as seen with President Zelensky and, more recently, South Africa\u2019s President Cyril Ramaphosa. <\/p>\n
Both Vice President, JD Vance, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have recently criticized Germany\u2019s decision to classify the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party, as \u201ccertainly right-wing extremists\u201d, and therefore expanding surveillance on the party. <\/p>\n
Both took to X, to express their anger at what they called the German \u201cestablishment\u201d for the designation. Secretary Rubio said, \u201cthat\u2019s not democracy \u2013 it\u2019s tyranny in disguise\u201d. <\/p>\n
Vance followed up by saying Germany is trying to redivide the country, \u201cthe West tore down the Berlin Wall together. And it has been rebuilt \u2014 not by the Soviets or the Russians, but by the German establishment.\u201d <\/p>\n
The German Foreign Ministry, for its part, said on X, the decision was democratic, \u201cthe result of a thorough & independent investigation to protect our Constitution & the rule of law.\u201d <\/p>\n
Merz, a few days later, also rejected the statements, saying \u201cGermany was liberated from tyranny by the US; Germany is stable, liberal, and democratic today. We don\u2019t need a remedial lesson in democracy.\u201d <\/p>\n
The expectation though, is that this will be a cordial meeting. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe doesn\u2019t mince his words\u2026 That\u2019s not Friedrich Merz\u2019s style. He says what he thinks. He\u2019s transparent. He\u2019s direct. And I would imagine that that is something which Donald Trump will hopefully learn to appreciate.\u201d <\/p>\n
That directness, particularly as regards Europe\u2019s relationship with the US, has already raised eyebrows in some quarters. <\/p>\n
In the minutes after Merz\u2019s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its sister party won the largest share of the vote on February 23, making him the likely next chancellor, he said, \u201cthe utmost priority is strengthening Europe as quickly as possible, so that we achieve independence from the US step-by-step.\u201d He added that the Trump administration \u201cdoesn\u2019t care much about the fate of Europe.\u201d <\/p>\n
Merz also had a few other choice words for the US in the days following the election. <\/p>\n
And only last week, he delivered a riposte to comments made earlier this year by Vice President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference in which he accused European allies of backsliding on freedom of expression \u2013 a speech which at the time Merz described as having disturbed him. <\/p>\n
Vance posed a question to which we \u201chave the strongest and best answer imaginable,\u201d Merz said in Berlin on Thursday, \u201cnamely, the conviction that freedom and democracy are worth standing up for resolutely and, if necessary, fighting to preserve them.\u201d <\/p>\n
These comments notwithstanding, Claudia Mayor, senior vice president at the German Marshall Fund, a think tank focused on US-German relations, assessed that since the election \u201cthe tone has been turned down\u201d by Merz. <\/p>\n
She noted that on May 8, Merz held a phone call with Trump in which he said, \u201cthe United States remains an indispensable friend and partner of Germany.\u201d <\/p>\n
At a business summit a few days later, Merz revealed that he had invited Trump to Germany. As part of that trip, he would accompany the US president to the rural town of Bad D\u00fcrkheim, the childhood home of Trump\u2019s paternal grandfather. <\/p>\n
And recently there has been Germany\u2019s alignment with the US on NATO defense spending. <\/p>\n
Merz and his government have indicated that they are ready to comply with, and push others to agree to, the long-stated Trump demand that members of the alliance increase spending on defense to 5% of GDP. <\/p>\n
Building up a positive working relationship, though, is likely to be Germany\u2019s major ambition for the White House meeting. And Merz\u2019s previous roles and experience could play a big part in bringing that about. <\/p>\n
Formerly the head of \u201cAtlantik Brucke,\u201d or Atlantic Bridge, a think tank that promotes German-US ties, Merz is known in Germany as being an ardent proponent of the transatlantic relationship. <\/p>\n
He was a huge advocate for a US-EU trade agreement while at Atlantic Bridge and has spoken openly about his admiration for former US President Ronald Reagan. He also understands the corporate world, having served on numerous boards, including that of US global investment firm BlackRock. <\/p>\n
Ischinger, now the chairman of the board of trustees of the Munich Security Conference, said: \u201cIf Donald Trump feels that he can trust Friedrich Merz, that\u2019s very important, and vice versa\u2026 because, these are dangerous times, and there must not be any misunderstanding.\u201d <\/p>\n
The conundrum, she said, is that Germany \u201ccan\u2019t afford the Americans leaving,\u201d because despite European commitments to increase spending on security, building up those capabilities takes years. \u201cAt the same time, we don\u2019t want them to leave, because we think we are better off together,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n
She points to the German coalition agreement, (essentially a contract between the two coalition parties, the CDU and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), on how they will govern Germany) and a major change in the constitution that could unlock half a trillion dollars of spending on the military, as indicators of the conflicting sentiment. <\/p>\n
The revision of Germany\u2019s constitutional debt brake, pushed through by Merz in March before he even formally became chancellor, was a \u201crevolutionary change by German standards,\u201d Mayor said. But it was forced through because \u201cinternational relations have changed so much\u201d that it appeared essential, she said. <\/p>\n
At the same time, she said, the coalition pact reads as if everything about the transatlantic relationship is in fine working order. \u201cIf you\u2019re such great partners, why did we need a constitutional change?\u201d Major asked. <\/p>\n
The source said Merz sees Germany as \u201c(needing) to grow up and take care of (itself),\u201d adding that the chancellor does not see that as possible \u201cin the next three years,\u201d and thus it is still in Germany\u2019s interest to have a good relationship with the US and find a way to work together. <\/p>\n
Ischinger, too, sees pragmatism at play, suggesting that Merz could seek to replicate the personal relationship built by Macron with Trump. <\/p>\n
The German chancellor will want to ensure that \u201cDonald Trump understands that if Friedrich Merz is a committed European, that does not mean that Friedrich Merz is going to make the Atlantic wider,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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