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The National
an hour ago
- The National
Trump hosts Germany's Merz at White House to discuss Ukraine and tariffs
President Donald Trump hosted Germany's new leader Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House on Thursday, to discuss Ukraine and defence spending, as well as tariffs. Mr Merz, whose visit is partially aimed at convincing the US to continue supporting Kyiv, said Mr Trump would be a vital figure in bringing an end to the conflict. 'We both agree on this war and how terrible this war that is going on, and we are both looking for ways to stop it very soon,' Mr Merz said. 'And I told the President before we came in that he is the key person in the world who can really do that now by putting pressure on Russia.' The US President called Mr Merz a 'very good man to deal with'. The visit comes a day after Mr Trump held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, during which he said there would be no 'immediate peace' in the three-year-old war. It was a stark turnaround for the US President, who took office this year on a promise to swiftly end the war in Ukraine. He said that Mr Putin has vowed to retaliate after Kyiv unleashed a surprise drone offensive that hit Russian airfields across the country, taking out many heavy bombers and surveillance planes. Mr Trump is set to attend the Nato summit later this month, a meeting that is expected to be dominated by the war in Ukraine. The meetings will come shortly after Mr Trump is scheduled to attend the Group of Seven leaders' summit in Canada, where allies are also expected to discuss ways to end the conflict. Germany, the biggest economy in the EU, is eager to ease trade tension with the US after Mr Trump announced sweeping tariffs on the bloc on April 2. A 50 per cent levy on European goods is scheduled to take effect on July 9. 'We'll have a big trade deal,' Mr Trump said. 'I guess that will be mostly determined by the European Union, but you're a very big part of that.' During the meeting, Mr Trump also said the two leaders would discuss the roughly 45,000 US troops stationed in Germany. 'We have a lot of them, about 45,000, it's a lot of troops,' Mr Trump said. 'That's good economic development, they're highly paid troops and they spend a lot of money in Germany.'
Khaleej Times
4 hours ago
- Khaleej Times
Germany to boost military by up to 60,000 troops under new Nato targets
Germany needs up to 60,000 additional troops under new Nato targets for weapons and personnel, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Thursday, as the alliance beefs up its forces to respond to what it sees as an increased threat from Russia. "We are stepping up to our responsibility as Europe's largest economy," Pistorius told reporters ahead of a meeting with his Nato counterparts in Brussels that signed off on the new targets. The fresh demands are tailored to the alliance's new defence plans - thousands of pages of secret documents drawn up for the first time since the end of the Cold War — that detail how allied forces would respond to a Russian attack on Nato. Translating these plans into the military tools needed, Nato found severe shortfalls in various areas - ranging from large formations of combat-ready ground troops to long-range weapons, sufficient ammunition stockpiles and secure communications. Pointing to the secret nature of the targets, Nato chief Mark Rutte only gave a rough outline of the gaps the alliance seeks to plug. "We have to invest in our air defence systems, we have to invest in our long-range missiles, we have to invest in our manoeuvrable land-formations, command and control systems - all of this has to happen," Rutte told reporters, adding that all this would require huge investments. In total, the Bundeswehr, Germany's armed forces, will need roughly 50,000 to 60,000 additional active soldiers across all branches of the military, said Pistorius. This would put the future strength of Germany's armed forces at between 250,000 and 260,000 troops. BIG CHALLENGE Last week, Reuters reported that Nato would ask Germany to provide seven more army brigades alone, or some 40,000 troops. Sources, who all spoke on condition of anonymity, put the target for the total number of brigades that Natoallies will have to provide in future at between 120 and 130, a hike of some 50% from the current target of around 80 brigades. Recruiting tens of thousands of extra troops will be a big challenge for Berlin, however, and will likely spark a fresh debate on whether conscription - suspended in 2011 - should be reintroduced. The Bundeswehr has not yet met a target of 203,000 troops set in 2018, and is currently short-staffed by some 20,000 regular troops, according to defence ministry data. Pistorius said the government would be faced with the question of whether the voluntary military service it aims to introduce will be sufficient to fill the Bundeswehr's ranks. Still, he warned that the military currently could not absorb a larger number of conscripts due to a lack of barracks and trainers. "Until we have such capacities, we'll have a voluntary service - and maybe beyond that if we are an attractive employer and win enough young men and women for the military who agree to serve for a longer time."
Zawya
4 hours ago
- Zawya
Dollar slips after ECB hints at rates pause; US data weigh
The dollar slipped against the euro on Thursday after the European Central Bank hinted at a pause in its year-long policy easing cycle and U.S. data pointed to softening labor market conditions amid mounting economic headwinds from tariffs. The ECB cut interest rates for the eighth time in a year on Thursday, acknowledging inflation was under control and turning more pessimistic about economic prospects amid risks of a trade war with the United States. While not confirming a pause, the central bank said it was now well-positioned to cope with global economic uncertainty, as market bets grew on a summer break in its year-long easing cycle. "With today's cut and the current level of interest rates... I think we are getting to the end of a monetary policy cycle that was responding to compounded shocks, including COVID, including the war in Ukraine, the illegitimate war in Ukraine, and the energy crisis," ECB President Christine Lagarde said. The euro rose 0.5% to $1.1473, a fresh six-week high against the dollar, not far from the more than 3-year high of $1.1573 touched in April. "The euro-dollar has taken off here in response to Lagarde saying the ECB is getting towards the end of its rate cutting cycle," said Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist at Scotiabank. The dollar's softer tone was an extension of its recent weakness, with the U.S. currency down nearly 10% against the euro for the year. "This just broadly reflects the softening in the broader dollar sentiment here and may well continue into non-farm payrolls tomorrow," Osborne said. "We are also seeing a little bit of volatility around news of President Trump talking to Xi, in a first sign of high-level communication between the White House and Beijing in quite some time," Osborne said. Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday held talks with Donald Trump by phone, China's state-run news agency Xinhua reported, as bilateral relations have been strained by trade disputes. The dollar also came under pressure after data showed the number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits last week increased for a second straight week, pointing to softening labor market conditions amid mounting economic headwinds from tariffs. The claims data have no bearing on the Labor Department's closely watched employment report for May, scheduled to be released on Friday, as it falls outside the survey period. Nonfarm payrolls likely increased by 130,000 jobs last month after advancing by 177,000 in April, a Reuters survey of economists showed. The unemployment rate is forecast being unchanged at 4.2%. "Evidence of a cooling in labour markets is beginning to build, lowering expectations ahead of tomorrow's non-farm payrolls report and putting downward pressure on yields," Karl Schamotta, chief market strategist at Corpay, said. Markets have been rattled since Trump announced a slate of tariffs on countries around the world on April 2, only to pause some and declare new ones, leading investors to look for alternatives to U.S. assets. Investors remain worried about U.S. trade negotiations and the lack of progress in hashing out deals ahead of an early July deadline. Elsewhere, the Hong Kong dollar was at 7.846 per U.S. dollar, about the closest it has been to 7.85 - the weak end of its trading band against the U.S. dollar - since August 2023, according to LSEG data. The dollar was 0.3% higher against the yen at 143.25 yen. Sterling was 0.3% higher against the dollar on Thursday. The United Kingdom is the only country to have struck a trade deal with the Trump administration and was spared from higher U.S. steel and aluminium tariffs, though analysts question how beneficial those factors are. Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, was 0.5% lower on the day at $104,021. (Reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed; Additional reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore and Lucy Raitano in London; Editing by Jamie Freed, Amanda Cooper, Alex Richardson and Toby Chopra)
