German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will travel to Washington for his inaugural meeting with US President Donald Trump next week, Bloomberg reported on 31 May, citing German government spokesman Stefan Cornelius.
According to the spokesman, Merz’s and Trump’s topics of conversation will include the Russian-Ukrainian war, the situation in the Middle East, and trade policy. Following the meeting, Friedrich Merz and Donald Trump plan to hold a joint press conference at the White House.
The first personal meeting between the two politicians will take place at the White House on 5 June.
The planned meeting also follows Merz’s talks with President Zelenskyy in Germany on 28 May, where the leaders of both countries announced the signing of a joint agreement on the production of long-range weapons.
The German Ministry of Defence later said, German long-range missiles could be in Ukraine in a few weeks, but they did not say what kind of long-range weapons they were or whether they were TAURUS missiles with a range of 500 km. But there are reportedly no other alternatives to this.
The US stance under Biden administration on providing Taurus missiles to Ukraine has been supportive, having secretly supplied Ukraine with ATACMS missiles, and hoping this would encourage Germany to also supply its Taurus missiles. However, the US emphasized that the decision to use such weapons is ultimately up to Ukraine, while Germany has been more hesitant earlier due to fears of escalating the war.
The German and US administrations spent several weeks negotiating the date and format of the event. This will be the first meeting between the new chancellor and Trump. Merz was elected chancellor on 6 May 2025.
In his new position, Friedrich Merz has already visited France, Poland, Northern European countries, and Ukraine. On 29 May, Merz responded to comments by US Vice President Vance, who criticized the EU’s approach to freedom of speech during the Munich Conference in February and questioned what Europeans were defending.
In response, the German chancellor said that Europe is ready to fight, if necessary, for its fundamental values of freedom and democracy. Merz also said in his speech that Europe does not want an escalation of the tariff dispute with the US, which would harm both sides.
The meeting comes as Merz and Trump agreed on the need to quickly resolve trade disputes in their first phone call since Merz took office. The chancellor has previously expressed concerns about changing relations with Washington under the Trump administration.
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