To Berlin's Relief, Musk — Not Merz — Got Slammed during White House Visit
Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz attends a meeting in the Oval Office on Thursday
BERLIN – German Chancellor Friedrich Merz went to the White House on Thursday to talk about trade, war, peace and the future of the Western alliance – a high-stakes meeting for which his top advisers made painstaking preparations.
President Donald Trump had something he wanted to say, too. About Elon Musk.
Sitting next to Merz in the Oval Office, Trump told reporters he was 'very disappointed' in his former adviser. Musk returned fire, and the two ex-besties were off on a wild, hours-long breakup that dominated the day's news cycle at home and abroad.
But see things from the Germans' side.
What they felt was … palpable relief.
Under the headline 'New Best Friends?' a political commentator for Germany's BR broadcaster wrote: 'It could hardly have gone better for the chancellor. His meeting with the U.S. president in the Oval Office, sometimes a scene of public humiliation, was extremely polite and almost harmonious.'
Germans, including Merz and his delegation, seemed thankful that Trump's trademark rage had been directed elsewhere during the meeting and was nothing like the president's public castigations of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during their visits to the White House
'You are smiling,' Sen. Chris Coons (D-Delaware) told Merz as he gathered with a gaggle of senators following the White House meeting. 'That's a very good sign.'
'Still standing!' added Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), to laughter.
Merz told the German broadcaster ZDF that he was 'very satisfied' with the meeting. Displaying no worry or concern about the visit being overshadowed, he added: 'I expected us to get along well. And that's exactly what happened.'
It did not escape German commentators, however, that on camera the leader of the European Union's most populous country, and the third-largest economy in the world, only got to speak for about four minutes in the meeting as Trump mostly held forth with the press.
But global leaders appear to be learning how to manage their encounters with Trump, or at least survive them.
'The team behind Merz prepared meticulously for this visit, and it showed. Phone calls between Merz and Trump prior to the visit helped pave the way for a smooth meeting,' said Sudha David-Wilp, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund. 'Both leaders felt comfortable with each other and President Trump was in a positive mood yesterday, but many hurdles and summits are ahead. The challenge is to concentrate on the shared interest and channel out the noise.'
Like others before him, Merz also came bearing gifts. But were they the right gifts?
Trump was presented with a gold-framed copy of his German grandfather's birth certificate.
Gold is always good with Trump. But the president's reaction appeared a little tepid – though he did look up at the wall and joke that maybe he could find a place for it there. He seemed more enthusiastic about a golf club engraved with the U.S. and German flags. Merz is a fellow golfer and later posted on Instagram a picture of Trump with the club.
Merz will soon have the opportunity to see how the partnership fares on German soil. The chancellor told German broadcaster ARD that Trump had accepted an invitation to visit Germany. Merz said last month that he plans to include a trip to the small wine-growing town Kallstadt – the hometown of Trump's grandfather – during the president's anticipated visit.
Free from the baggage of his predecessors – including Olaf Scholz, who worked closely with President Joe Biden, and Angela Merkel, whom Trump repeatedly berated for her open-door migration policy at the height of Europe's migration crisis a decade ago – Merz's blank sheet going into the Oval Office was evidently advantageous.
'The whole world now knows: Trump has nothing against this German; he likes him,' German daily the Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote. 'Perhaps the most important reason for this: Friedrich Merz is not Angela Merkel.'
Following a question about the sweeping travel restrictions on 19 countries that Trump announced Wednesday, the president criticized Merkel's migration policy. 'We want to keep bad people out of our country. … Of course, you have a little problem, too, with some of the people that were allowed into your country,' Trump said to Merz.
'It's not your fault. … It shouldn't have happened. I told her it shouldn't have happened, but it did,' Trump said, without naming Merkel.
Merz didn't respond.
Merz appeared to handle Trump more smoothly than he did British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron, though he had fewer speaking lines. Perhaps less was more.
Merz mostly went out of his way to praise and flatter Trump, but he also remained assertive – insisting, for instance, that Russia alone was to blame for civilian deaths following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. For the most part, Merz had Trump nodding along – except when Merz mentioned the children in war-torn Ukraine, at which point Trump stopped nodding and froze.
'Under normal diplomatic practice, Donald Trump's monologue would be an affront to the chancellor,' German publication Focus wrote. Instead, Merz took it in stride and used his small amount of speaking time wisely, the magazine wrote.
There were some noteworthy exchanges, including one about Nazis.
Merz began noting that June 6 was the anniversary of D-Day, when the Allied Forces landed on the beaches of Normandy, 'when the Americans ended a war in Europe.' That day in 1944 was the symbolic start of Europe's liberation in World War II.
Trump jumped in: 'That was not a pleasant day for you? This is not a great day.'
Merz answered: 'No, in the long run, this was the liberation of my country from Nazi dictatorship.'
Vice President JD Vance appeared again on his spot on the sofa as the president's wing man. But he did not pounce – and Merz made sure to say thank you.
'We owe the Americans a lot,' the chancellor said. 'We will never forget about them.' Turning toward the president, he continued, 'so with your German provenance, I think this is a very good basis for close cooperation between America and Germany.'
It was unclear exactly what Merz and Germany might get out of the meeting, other than future encounters minus any awkward baggage.
After Merz took a firm stand on Russia's responsibility for the war in Ukraine, Trump suggested that Russia and Ukraine be treated as two children fighting on a playground who should simply be left to battle it out.
Asked by the press about Trump's comparison of the war to a playground tussle, Merz didn't take the bait. 'I think we both agree on this war and how terrible this war is going on,' he said. 'We are both looking for ways to stop it very soon.'
Booth reported from London.
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