Friedrich Merz gets ready for Trump's Oval Office endurance test
During the first
Donald Trump
presidency, the easiest way to annoy
Angela Merkel
's inner circle was to ask them about a state visit for the German-American president to his ancestral homeland.
Trump's grandfather left the wine-growing town of Kallstadt, near Frankfurt, for good in 1905, but repeated Merkel invitations for Trump to return fell on deaf ears.
On Thursday, when
Germany
's new chancellor
Friedrich Merz
meets the
US
president for the first time they will have plenty to discuss, from
Ukraine
to
tariffs
.
To build rapport, however, Merz is likely to offer Trump a round of golf in Germany to sweeten a public invitation to visit his ancestral homeland.
READ MORE
The two men don't just share a love of golf: Germany's 69-year-old conservative-liberal leader is closer in age and political outlook than his younger, centrist predecessors as chancellor.
As opposition leader and in office, Merz has taken a pragmatic approach to Trump – even if his lifelong Atlanticist convictions have taken a beating of late.
Ahead of the visit, Merz sought advice from recent survivors of Trump's new reality television format: the Oval Office endurance test.
'It's always important that you don't talk too long, instead talk briefly and let him talk,' said Merz on public television, revealing the two had swapped mobile numbers after a recent telephone conversation and occasionally texted.
'You have to prepare for him and get involved with him,' added Merz, 'and at the same time not make yourself smaller than we are. We are not supplicants. The most important thing is that we can talk to him reasonably.'
Merz and his advisers have been war-gaming the meeting for weeks, including how to approach Trump on the actual war in Ukraine.
[
Germany's Merz vows long-range weapons for Ukraine following talks with Zelenskiy
Opens in new window
]
On this front, Merz will flag how Germany is second only to the US in military and humanitarian support, and has just signed bilateral deals with Kyiv to build long-range weapons.
Gingerly, he will press Trump to back further sanctions on
Russia
and keep the US fully committed to finding peace through talks and security guarantees.
Ahead of the June
Nato
summit in The Hague, Merz will be anxious to address the Nato elephant in the room: how much longer the US will maintain its current military strength this side of the Atlantic.
To stretch any withdrawal timeline, and avoid presidential swipes about freeloading Europeans, Merz will acknowledge Europe's previous underspend as a strategic error. Then he will flash his government's effective blank cheque for military investment that will help push German security spending to 5 per cent of annual economic output, including 1.5 per cent on defence-related infrastructure.
Merz meets Trump a day after a doubling of US tariffs to 50 per cent on imported steel and aluminium, likely to have a devastating effect on Germany's already ailing metal manufacturers and car companies.
The wider trade picture is no better: the US is Germany's most important customer, buying €161.4 billion in goods last year, but the EU's responsibility for trade talks means all Merz can do is appeal to joint interests.
On
Gaza
, both leaders have shifted recently, with Trump appearing to avoid Israeli president
Binyamin Netanyahu
during his recent Middle East tour. Meanwhile Merz has hit out at the Israeli government in an unprecedented shift, saying last week: 'Allowing the civilian population to suffer in such a way can no longer be explained as a fight against
Hamas
terrorism.'
Given some recent visitors didn't even get a warm meal, the Merz team are delighted their visit includes talks, lunch, a joint press conference and even a bed for the night in Blair House, the 119-room official White House guest digs.
German international relations analyst Carlo Masala suggests Merz should 'constantly give Trump the feeling that he is a great statesman who has a right vision'.
Republican senator Lindsey Graham struck an upbeat note in Berlin this week, predicting a 'new, more open and fairer' US-
EU
trade deal within a month. In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine daily he said he was 'very impressed' by the harder Merz line on defence and migration.
And what of Team Trump's commentaries on German politics: endorsement of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and describing efforts to ban the party as 'tyranny in disguise'?
A jovial Graham called the Russia-friendly AfD an expression of voter insecurity over growing criminality linked to 'irrational immigration and wokeism'.
'The people have had enough of it so they are saying, 'go f*** yourselves',' he added. 'The antidote is certainly not friendship with Putin but instead a society with a rational immigration policy of mutual benefit.'
And what if Trump accepts the invitation to Kallstadt, famous not just for the future president but also the Heinz ketchup family?
Despite previous Trump disinterest, mayor Thomas Jaworek said his town is ready to play its part to improve bilateral relations – so long as the president's armoured car can make it down the narrow streets.
'I believe that Friedrich Merz's initiatives are important for Germany and Europe to put relations with the US on a solid footing,' said Jaworek to the Wirtschafts Woche magazine. 'If we can contribute, then we will do it.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Independent
36 minutes ago
- Irish Independent
Philip Bump: Elon Musk has already lost the war as Republicans rally behind Donald Trump
No one really knows where the billionaire and the president will go from here ©Washington Post There is only one person who is unquestionably able to both maintain a high level of public visibility and stay on president Donald Trump's good side. That person is Donald Trump. Everyone else who sidles up to him suffers from the deficit that they are not Trump himself. They therefore risk discovering that Trump has suddenly turned against them, bringing his fervent base of support – tens of millions of Americans strong – with him. Options from that point are limited: obsequious efforts at reintegration with the president or lining up for one of the modest but endless slots reserved in the public conversation for Trump's former allies.
Irish Independent
36 minutes ago
- Irish Independent
Letters: Elon Musk's break with Donald Trump may offer opportunities to Ireland and rest of the EU
This is no ordinary falling-out. For once, Mr Trump is confronting a rival with genuine leverage – technological, communicative, financial and, perhaps, psychological. The implications could extend far beyond American shores. If this rupture holds, I could see Mr Musk pivoting towards Brussels, offering the EU and countries like Ireland his full innovation portfolio – satellites, electric vehicles, AI – at preferential rates. He may well find European regulators less volatile than a president nursing a grudge. Enda Cullen, Tullysaran Road, Armagh Tesla boss made a mistake trusting president, but he will be formidable enemy Monica Hesse doesn't hold back on the character of billionaire Elon Musk ( 'Good riddance to Musk, who did not need to do any of this', Irish Independent, June 4). But that's what drives billionaires, that's how they get there. Sitting back is not within Musk's DNA. While it is hard to have any sympathy for a billionaire who gets fired, he was naive to trust Trump. Perhaps if nothing else, Musk will be a man scorned and a formidable enemy for President Trump. In that his destructive stint into politics may prove invaluable and electrifying to America and democracy at large. Aidan Roddy, Cabinteely, Dublin 18 Billionaire's attack could turn Republicans against their leader and his bill For months, US president Donald Trump has been heralding his 'big, beautiful' spending bill as being a key piece of his agenda, containing tax cuts for the rich and benefits cuts for the vulnerable. We now know that this will also add trillions to America's debt, to the point that some are now sounding the alarm, warning of a 'debt bomb' about to hit the US economy. What the White House didn't bet on was that one of those leading critics would be Elon Musk, who has turned fire on his former boss in spectacular fashion, calling the legislation a 'disgusting abomination' and ominously warning US senators that voters will fire those politicians who 'betray America'. I am not an advocate of Musk but on this one , I believe that he's not wrong. It leaves me wondering: will the words of Musk spook Republicans into defying Donald Trump? I am also curious as to how the president will react to Musk's missives. John O'Brien, Clonmel, Co Tipperary ADVERTISEMENT Learn more Israel will stop at nothing in its war on Gaza, so it's time for Ireland cut all ties The US representative to the UN, Dorothy Camille Shea, repeated Washington's message as part of the veto of a resolution calling for an unconditional ceasefire in Gaza, that Israel has the 'right to defend itself'. Unsurprisingly, there was no mention of the right to life for Palestinians. This was the latest example of the United States' unwavering support of Israel's annihilation of Gaza. Israel's UN representative, Danny Danon, eerily replied to the veto: 'Don't waste more of your time.' He added that no resolution, no vote, 'will stand in our way'. If the UN can't put a stop to the carnage, then it falls to small nations such as our own to take a stand, and at least to end our own complicity. The Irish Government must, like TCD, cut all ties with Israel. It must enact the Occupied Territories Bill, enact the Arms Embargo Bill, and stop the Central Bank regulating Israeli war bonds. After 20 months, 56,000 Palestinians are dead. How many more need to die before our Government honours its obligations as a signatory to the Genocide Convention? Aisling Brady, Drumcondra, Dublin 9 Thunberg's voyage to Palestine offers haunting echoes of famine ship Kudos to Martina Devlin for highlighting the humanitarian ship Madleen on its way across the Mediterranean with vital food, medicine and other essential supplies ('Greta Thunberg's aid ship for Gaza won't get through – but that doesn't make it a failure', Irish Independent, June 6). Readers may recall the story of the Jeanie Johnston, now parked on Dublin's Custom House Quay and which began its journey in Blennerville, just outside of Tralee. This replica 'famine ship' tells the unique story of Ireland's past and the thousands of Irish people who crossed the Atlantic to escape starvation and destitution. Not one soul was lost on the original ship, which crossed the ocean dozens of times. Former RTÉ journalist Fintan Drury, whose new, deeply researched book on what is happening in Gaza, Catastrophe, asks: 'Where is the outrage?' He convincingly argues that what is now being perpetrated on a defenceless people did not begin on October 7, 2023, but rather eight decades earlier ('Author hoping to convert Kerry readers not convinced of Palestinian cause at talk in Listowel', The Kerryman and Irish Independent, May 28) The Madleen ship may be turned away by Israel but world is watching as Netanyahu and co deliberately use starvation as a shocking and cowardly tactic in their latest attempt to suppress an indigenous race. Tom McElligott, Listowel, Co Kerry Income tax may be deeply unfair, but its burden should fall evenly on us all The news that so many workers are exempt from income tax in one way or another presents a real moral dilemma (Irish Independent, June 5). On the one hand, income tax is a 200-year-old hangover from the Napoleonic wars; an immoral way for the State to monetise our waking hours that has no place in a free and democratic society in which the particularly altruistic can donate what they please to the Exchequer. As such, bully for those who don't have to pay it, whatever the reason. On the other hand, if the blight of income tax is to exist, it should be applied evenly, if for no other reason than to reduce the burden it places on those of us who do have to pay it. In that sense, the workers who don't pay should have to, with a view to reducing what is due from the rest of us. Killian Foley-Walsh, Kilkenny city
The Irish Sun
6 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
What caused Trump & Elon Musk's explosive fallout? – from NASA spat to key role of Don's teen relative, I know the truth
THE richest man in the world going toe-to-toe with the most powerful man on the planet . . . what could possibly go wrong? And has the most outlandish politician in American history finally met his match? Advertisement 7 Elon Musk, left, looks down on Donald Trump during a White House press conference Credit: AP 7 Musk toured the swing states at last year's election telling the world that Trump was the greatest thing since sliced bread Credit: AFP 7 Trump was considering selling his own Tesla, which has spent weeks parked outside the Oval Office Credit: AP From the moment neuro-diverse rocket man Elon Musk backed New York real estate heavy Donald J. Trump to return to I hear it's the galaxy and beyond that has been at the centre of their tensions, but more on that later — as last night Washington was awash with claims Musk's attempts to befriend 'Bankrupting America is not OK – kill the bill' But the powerful pair certainly have fallen out, trading public blows on their social media sites of choice — the very tech platforms that have both made them and could yet see them crash to back down to earth. Asked if they could reconcile yesterday, Trump slammed Musk as 'the man who has lost his mind'. Advertisement In the end, the most famous bromance in political history lasted less than a year, and the fallout risks dragging them both down. Musk claims credit for his $300million in donations swinging the election Trump's way, while the White House says that's fake news and the car salesman is sulking because he's not getting much bang for his buck. The pair clashed publicly over Trump's so-called 'Big Beautiful Bill' — legislation that he says will deliver a slew of campaign promises like banning taxes on tips for millions of American workers. 7 Trump was tiring of Elon's 'ketamine-fuelled' antics Credit: AFP Advertisement 7 Richest man in the world Musk is going toe-to-toe with the most powerful man on the planet Credit: AFP But Musk — appointed to the administration to cut eye-watering federal expenditure — baulked at the increase in government spending tacked on to the law by Congress, branding it an 'abomination'. Most read in The Sun Breaking He irked Trump by urging senators to vote it down, adding it could be 'big or beautiful but it cannot be both'. Musk raged on social media: 'This spending bill contains the largest increase in the debt ceiling in US history! It is the Debt Slavery Bill… Call your Senator, Call your Congressman, Bankrupting America is NOT ok! KILL the BILL.' Advertisement Trump crushes hopes of 'peace talks' call with Musk as he insists Elon has 'lost his mind' after feud went nuclear It's a long cry from when Musk toured the swing states at last year's election telling the world that Trump was the greatest thing since sliced bread and organising well-oiled get-out-the-vote operations. But behind the scenes I'm told Trump was already at the end of his tether with Musk who some sources accuse of 'gurning away' on the campaign trail and in meetings. Brought in to help slash costs through his Department of Government Efficiency, tensions reached a head after the New York Times ran a well-sourced hit piece accusing Musk of enjoying recreational drugs such as ketamine and ecstasy throughout his brief foray into politics. Those claims were not denied when Musk was confronted by Fox News in an Oval Office press conference last week. Advertisement Musk's coterie of love-children and his stated desire to help repopulate the planet with, what his former lovers have claimed, he calls genius offspring have also rubbed Trump up the wrong way. Teetotal Trump wanted rid of him but also wanted to give his big donor a decent goodbye, so lavished praise on him after he departed as special government employee last week. Yet despite all the niceties, the former allies are locked in a Cold War stand-off this weekend. 7 Devout Trump-backer Steve Bannon called for South African-born Musk to be deported Credit: The Mega Agency Advertisement Will they both retreat to their bunkers and realise mutually assured destruction is in neither of their interests, OR will they be unable to help themselves and launch a thermonuclear blow-out that burns them both up? Musk came close to that on Friday night, with his outlandish allegations that the President was sitting on files about billionaire deceased paedo-financier Jeffrey Epstein — because Trump himself is named as a murky connection. White House sources say that is nonsense and were that bombshell evidence to be sitting in a government file somewhere, surely previous Democrat governments would have leaked it by now. Musk ended his online diatribe with calls for Trump to be impeached, adding a menacing suggestion he could back the Democrats. Advertisement It's a mess, but one that was very obviously cooking Harry Cole Yet even some of his closest allies and supporters were left begging any friend possible to strip Musk of access to his own X platform before he caused any more damage. It's a dangerous game for the mercurial billionaire to play — because the President hit back that he was going to suspend US subsidies and government contracts for the entrepreneurs' many, many firms. Musk's electric car firm Tesla shares were down 14 per cent yesterday — the biggest one-day drop since the company went public, wiping $152billion off its value. And that's before the $3billion personal hit to Musk on the back of an evening of lively tweeting. Advertisement In a further snub, Trump was last night considering selling his own Tesla which has spent weeks parked outside the Oval Office, in a move which could spark a wave of similar fire sales across the US amongst his fans. 'Musk is an illegal alien and should be deported' The Tesla Cybertruck gifted to the President's granddaughter Kai is presumably for the chop too. Meanwhile, the row threatens to spark a wider war between various right-wing camps that run Washington, with implications felt in Congress and across the political spectrum. Devout Trump-backer Steve Bannon called for South African-born Musk to be deported from the US, saying yesterday: 'They should initiate a formal investigation of his immigration status because I am of the strong belief that he is an illegal alien and should be deported from the country immediately.' Advertisement 7 Twitter exchanges between the pair Meanwhile, the self-proclaimed autistic automaker said he could launch a new political party — an idea backed by 80 per cent of the millions of respondents to his social media poll yesterday. But this wasn't just a political knife-fight but also a brawl in the casino of capitalism. In short, it's a mess, but one that was very obviously cooking. Musk is a libertarian, free-marketeer who has his sights on the moon and Mars and beyond. Advertisement Trump is the tariff-loving protectionist who believes it's America First and everyone else can fall in line behind that. Prior to SpaceX, they couldn't even transport their own astronauts to the International Space Station and had to rely on outdated Russian rockets Dr Rainer Zitelmann Add to that their tensions on China that Trump sees as an existential threat to the US, while Musk views it as an opportunity to produce his electric cars on the cheap. It's amazing that things took so long to come to a head. And then it came down to space, where Musk obviously has a major financial interest as the boss of SpaceX — the rocket firm hat has all but colonised America's space projects. Advertisement As top economist Dr Rainer Zitelmann puts it: 'Without SpaceX, the US does not currently have much to offer. "Prior to SpaceX, they couldn't even transport their own astronauts to the International Space Station and had to rely on outdated Russian rockets — and paid exorbitant prices to do so. 'SpaceX is responsible for 86 per cent of all US launches.' But things were coming to a head when Trump blocked a Musk ally to take over Nasa last month, infuriating his former 'First Buddy'. Advertisement Moment of maximum danger Insiders say Musk's attempts to take over Nasa were a step too far that left America's future security beholden to a private company run by a wildly unpredictable boss. Sources claimed Musk recently had his high-level security clearances revoked by the White House as tensions mounted, leading to Friday's pyrotechnics. What happens next is a moment of maximum danger for Trump. Brits will be familiar with what happens when a leader and their dangerous right-hand man fall out. Advertisement Boris Johnson found out the hard way that if the snubbed guru bears enough of a grudge, it is fatal. Read more on the Irish Sun The White House will be hoping this weekend that Elon holds less resentment than equally unstable I wonder whether that might be a bit of wishful thinking . . .
