Merz on US visit: Not going to lecture our partner
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz risks having his most important issues overshadowed when he meets Donald Trump in Washington. The focus is expected to be on the US and Israel's attacks on Iran rather than trade and Ukraine, writes Bloomberg.
- We do not intend to lecture our partner about military attacks on Iran. Instead, we want to cooperate with them, with the necessary realism, to create a peaceful order, says Merz.
At the same time, he wants to pressure Trump about tariffs and increased pressure on Russia.
Analysis: Come on Merz, show some stick in the White House
Today's meeting in the White House between Friedrich Merz and Donald Trump is being criticized by several newspapers' expert opinion writers.
In Der Spiegel, Marina Kormbakis writes that just a few weeks ago the German Chancellor spoke about Europe standing strong without the US. But since the US launched an attack on Iran, Merz has instead sounded “low-key and discouraged,” bowed to Trump, and also talked down Europe’s handling of Iran. This signals weakness and creates a bad starting point for the meeting, according to the analysis.
“The US president only respects strength. A little more self-confidence would therefore be good if, for example, the chancellor wants to get Trump to refrain from abandoning Ukraine.”
On the German television channel ZDF, correspondent Wulf Schmiese says that Merz is neither taking a thank you nor a scolding to the White House. The message is said to be: We share your goals, we accept your strategy, but we will not participate in it. The question is whether Trump accepts it, writes Schmiese.
Trump apparently wants to take advantage of the fact that Merz has spoken out more positively than other European leaders, writes Politico in a newsletter. Trump has not offered any “spectacle” in the White House since the Volodymyr Zelensky chaos. Could it be time again?
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