Friedrich Merz will meet Trump in person for the first time next week
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will travel to the US to meet with President Donald Trump next week, the German government announced on Saturday.
Russia's ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine, bilateral relations and trade tensions will reportedly be key items on the agenda of the two leaders' meeting
Merz's office said the new German leader, who took the helm of Europe's biggest economy on May 6, will meet with Trump in the White House on Thursday. It will be the first in-person meeting between the two.
The meeting between Trump and Merz will be followed by a lunch and press conference, according to local media.
He will travel to Washington on Wednesday evening at around 10pm following a dinner with state premiers in Berlin.
Merz and Trump have spoken on the phone several times in recent weeks – once one-on-one and three times in a larger group with several other European heads of state to discuss ending Russia's war in Ukraine.
The German chancellor has also plunged into diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire in Ukraine and keep Western support for the country intact. On Wednesday, he hosted Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy in Berlin.
Germany has a strong interest in defusing trade tensions between the EU and the US. Trump threatened to impose 50% tariffs on goods imported from the bloc from Sunday, but then pushed the deadline back until July 9.
The world should be 'extremely worried' about Russia and China's relationship as North Korean troops fight alongside Russian soldiers in Ukraine, the European Union's foreign policy said on Saturday.
'When China and Russia speak of leading together, the change is not seen in 100 years and of revisions of the global security order. We should all be extremely worried,' Kallas said during the Shangri-La Dialogue, a global security conference in Singapore.
European and Asian security remain interconnected, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs stated while speaking on a panel about ensuring global stability.
'Our security is very much interlinked, and what we have to do for not the worst case scenario happening, is that we really need to defend the international law because that says it all,' Kallas explained.
'That is the umbrella that actually protects, especially the smaller states.'
Kallas spoke after US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth warned of increasing military and economic pressure coming from China.
In his speech at the conference, he reassured allies in the Indo-Pacific they would not be left alone, while insisting they contribute more to their own defence.
Hegseth said Washington would bolster overseas defences to counter what the US views as an increasing threat from China – particularly in its stance towards Taiwan.
China does not recognise Taiwan's independence. Chinese President Xi Jinping hasn't ruled out taking it by force. China regularly sends military aircraft and ships near Taiwan and currently has an aircraft carrier southeast of the island.
China's army 'is rehearsing for the real deal,' Hegseth said in his keynote speech. 'We are not going to sugarcoat it — the threat China poses is real. And it could be imminent.'
He urged Indo-Pacific countries to increase their defence spending to levels similar to the 5% of their gross domestic product that European nations which are part of NATO are now pushed to contribute.
The head of China's delegation to the conference accused Hegseth of making 'groundless accusations'.
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