Latest news with #USGermanyRelations
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
New German Chancellor Merz to meet Trump in White House on Thursday
New German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will meet US President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington on Thursday, government spokesman Stefan Kornelius said in Berlin on Saturday. A meeting between the two leaders at the White House, a joint lunch and a subsequent press event are planned, he said. This is the first meeting between the two since Merz took office on May 6. Before that, they had only briefly encountered each other many years ago in New York. Merz will depart for Washington on Wednesday evening after a dinner with the premiers of Germany's 16 federal states in Berlin, Kornelius said. At the state premiers' conference on Thursday, he will be represented his chief of staff, Thorsten Frei, he added. Trump will have the chancellor stay at his guest house, Blair House, next to the White House - a special honour, Kornelius said. The talks in Washington are expected to focus on efforts to end the Ukraine war, NATO's response to growing external threats and the trade dispute between the United States and the European Union. However, the main issue is whether the two can establish a good rapport.
Washington Post
3 days ago
- Business
- Washington Post
New German leader Friedrich Merz will meet Trump at the White House next week
BERLIN — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will travel to Washington next week to meet U.S. President Donald Trump , with the war in Ukraine and trade tensions among the items on the agenda, the German government said Saturday. Merz's office said the new German leader, who took the helm of Europe's biggest economy on May 6, will meet Trump at the White House on Thursday — the first in-person meeting between the two.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Germany's Merz Secures Long-Awaited Trump Meeting on Thursday
(Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will travel to Washington for his inaugural meeting with US President Donald Trump next week, almost a month after starting his term leading Europe's largest economy. Billionaire Steve Cohen Wants NY to Expand Taxpayer-Backed Ferry Now With Colorful Blocks, Tirana's Pyramid Represents a Changing Albania NYC Congestion Toll Brings In $216 Million in First Four Months The Economic Benefits of Paying Workers to Move Where the Wild Children's Museums Are The 69-year-old conservative, who became Germany's chancellor on May 6, will travel to Washington for a meeting at the White House on Thursday, government spokesman Stefan Kornelius said in an emailed statement on Saturday. Topics including Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East and trade policy will be the focus of the talks, Kornelius said. Since taking charge of Germany's government Merz has crisscrossed Europe to meet with allies in France, Poland, the Nordics and Ukraine. But he hasn't made it across the Atlantic, despite promising to improve ties with the Trump administration. Relations between Washington and Berlin are tense amid issues ranging from trade imbalances to support for Kyiv. European leaders fear that the US president will abandon efforts to end Russia's war in Ukraine and dial back military support for the region. Despite the delay in securing the meeting, Merz is getting his chance to make his case to Trump, unlike his predecessor Olaf Scholz. The Social Democrat never received an invitation to the White House after showing support for former US President Joe Biden and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. Merz's meeting will come a week after Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul traveled to Washington for talks with US counterpart Marco Rubio. During the 45-minute meeting, both sides stressed their common position on Ukraine and trade, Wadephul told reporters. Rubio didn't participate in the press conference. After Trump publicly antagonized Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during visits to the Oval Office, German officials are wary that similar treatment might be in store for Merz. In addition to tensions over Germany's trade surplus with the US, Trump allies have taken issue with the country's treatment of the far-right Alternative for Germany. Rubio called a move to classify the second-largest party in the Bundestag as right-wing extremist as 'tyranny in disguise.' Merz has sharply rejected these allegations and called on US politicians to stay out of domestic German politics. The chancellor has also suggested that the European Union could retaliate against US technology companies if the trade conflict escalates. A junior member of Merz's cabinet proposed a 10% tax on US tech companies, just as the White House pushes for powers to hit back against such levies. To soften areas of contention, Merz has been eager to show he's prepared to fulfill some of Trump's demands. Most notably, he's commited to putting Germany on a path to more than double defense-related spending to 5% of national output in the coming years. YouTube Is Swallowing TV Whole, and It's Coming for the Sitcom Millions of Americans Are Obsessed With This Japanese Barbecue Sauce Mark Zuckerberg Loves MAGA Now. Will MAGA Ever Love Him Back? How Coach Handbags Became a Gen Z Status Symbol AI Is Helping Executives Tackle the Dreaded Post-Vacation Inbox ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
