German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to meet Trump next week in D.C.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (R) welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Berlin, Germany on Wednesday. Photo by Clemens Bilan/EPA-EFE
May 31 (UPI) -- President Trump plans to meet with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz next week in Washington, D.C..
Merz, who was elected May 6 in a parliamentary election, is scheduled to visit with Trump on Thursday in the White House, German government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius said in a news release Saturday.
Merz, a member of the center-right Christian Democratic Union, replaced Olaf Scholz, who served since 2021 with the Social Democratic Party. Merz was first elected to the Bundestag in 1994 and was leader of the opposition since February 2022.
He will travel to the U.S. capital one day ahead, according to broadcaster n-tv.
They will focus on bilateral relations, the Russia-Ukraine war, the Middle East and trade policy, which includes tariffs, according to Kornelius.
A White House official confirmed the meeting to The Hill.
Like Trump, Merz wants a cease-fire in the war between Ukraine and Russia that began in February 2022.
Merz met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Berlin on Wednesday.
The chancellor said that Germany will increase financial support for Ukraine as part of a more than $5.5 billion agreement. That includes sending over more military equipment and increasing weapons manufacturing in Kyiv.
Members of the Trump administration have criticized Germany's designation of the far-right Alternative fur Deutschland party as an "extremist" political entity.
"We have largely stayed out of the American election campaign in recent years, and that includes me personally," Merz said in an interview with Axel Springer Global Reporters Network, which is part of Politico, that was published on May 7.
Last Wednesday, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul traveled to Washington and met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Trump spoke on the phone with Merz during his visit on May 10 with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to meet with Zelensky in Kyiv.
Macron, Starmer and Zelensky have already met with Trump in the White House.
Other foreign leaders who met with Trump since he took office again on Jan. 20 include Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Jordan's King Abdullah II bin al-Hussein, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Irish Prime Minister Micheel Martin, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Many heads of state, including Trump, went to the funeral for Francis on April 26 in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. Merz wasn't one of them.
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