Trump Set to Square Off With New German Chancellor Merz on Trade, Ukraine
President Donald Trump will meet Thursday with new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz for the first time since Merz swept into power vowing to distance Germany from the United States.
The centrist conservative German leader won an election in February with a promise to establish "independence" from Washington, signaling a potential break between the U.S. and one of its most important European allies.
"Merz will be trying to create a positive working relationship, but he probably won't just come into the Oval Office and endorse Donald Trump's view of the world," said Jeff Rathke, the president of the American-German Institute, a think tank in Washington.
The White House meeting between Trump and Merz will take place amid a backdrop of tensions between the U.S. and Europe over issues ranging from free speech to trade to Russia's war in Ukraine.
Berlin and Washington have maintained a close relationship for decades, with Germany — the largest economy in Europe — serving as a key ally on economic and national security issues.
Former President Joe Biden and Merz's predecessor, Olaf Scholz, maintained close ties even as they debated how to best aid Ukraine in its fight with Russia.
But Merz signaled a new approach after winning the February election and forming a coalition government with his center-right Christian Democratic Union party and Scholz's center-left Social Democrats.
Merz told the U.S. not to meddle in German domestic politics after Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticized Germany's intelligence agency for labeling the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) group a "right-wing extremist organization." Billionaire Trump ally Elon Musk had sparked an uproar in Germany by backing the AfD last year.
"That is our business. We decide that, not the American government," Merz told reporters after he was sworn in last month.
The episode followed Merz's election night promise to upend the transatlantic partnership. "My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the U.S.A," Merz said at the time.
"For Germany the partnership with the U.S. dating back to the Cold War has been a cornerstone of its policy," said Garret Martin, an expert on transatlantic relations at American University. "Real independence, depending on how you define it, would be a major shift."
Merz's approach will be tested on issues like aiding Ukraine in the war with Russia.
Trump is eager to end the conflict, but he has been far more critical of Ukraine than Russia since returning to the White House. More recently, the president's tone has shifted somewhat, marked by social media posts in which Trump wondered aloud "what the hell happened" to Vladimir Putin, who had gone "absolutely crazy."
It's also unclear if Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress will approve more military aid for Ukraine once the current tranche of funding runs out later this year.
In contrast, Germany and other EU nations have promised to continue aiding Ukraine even without a negotiated peace in sight. Germany is the third-largest provider of aid to Ukraine, trailing only the U.S. and European Union as a whole.
Merz has also joined other foreign leaders in criticizing Trump's trade war, a topic that will be front and center when the leaders meet at the White House. The administration is negotiating tariff deals with individual countries as well as the EU.
The German leader would be wise to avoid provoking Trump on tariffs, said Emily Kilcrease, the director of the Energy, Economics and Security Program at the Center for a New American Security.
"Germany and Europe can work with the U.S. to address some of the concerns that [Trump] has raised," Kilcrease said.
There are other areas where it may be easier for Trump and Merz to find common ground.
Earlier this year Germany changed its debt rules to ramp up defense spending, an initiative backed by Merz that was passed before he took office. Trump has long urged NATO members to meet their defense spending obligations and may welcome Merz's efforts to boost Germany's defense industry.
Under Merz, Germany has also taken steps to toughen its immigration system to reduce the number of asylum-seekers entering the country. The changes have been challenged in court, like many of Trump's own immigration policies in the U.S.
"Immigration is an area where I imagine Merz would try to placate and court Trump," Martin said.
The two leaders are scheduled to attend a lunch together Thursday and also meet separately with a small group of advisers. Analysts said not to expect the public fireworks that marked Trump's meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa.
"Merz is not coming here to pick a fight," Rathke said. Germany understands "there are major tectonic shifts underway on the international scene, but they also want to preserve the transatlantic relationship to the extent they can."
Related Articles
Welcome to the Age of Dumb Kissinger | OpinionDonald Trump Scores Major Legal Win In TexasWill Donald Trump Get to Pick New Supreme Court Justices?Donald Trump Is Losing Support With Hispanics
2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Wall Street Journal
21 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
Trump Says He's Nearing a Possible Deal With Harvard
President Trump said his administration was 'working closely' with Harvard University and could announce a deal within the next week. The White House and Harvard have been locked in battle since late March. Trump has pulled billions in federal funds over antisemitism and DEI concerns, tried to block Harvard's ability to enroll international students and threatened its tax-exempt status. Harvard has sued the administration, saying the government has violated its First Amendment rights.
Axios
21 minutes ago
- Axios
Trump admin shortens ACA enrollment window
The Trump administration on Friday narrowed the period to sign up for Affordable Care Act coverage and imposed other restrictions aimed at rolling back Biden-era flexibilities for the program. Why it matters: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services expects the new policies to lower marketplace premiums by about 5% on average, and save taxpayers $12 billion next year. But between 725,000 and 1.8 million people are expected to lose coverage, per CMS's projections. The big picture: Congress is considering codifying many of the same provisions in the massive GOP budget bill that's now in the Senate. That would make them much harder for a future administration to undo. State of play: CMS is shortening the period for enrolling in marketplace insurance by two weeks, starting for plan year 2027. Federal exchanges will then be open for sign-ups from Nov. 1 through Dec. 31 of each year. It's also repealing the monthly opportunity started under the Biden administration for lower-income people to get marketplace coverage. The new rule limits plans' ability to cover gender-affirming care beginning next year. It also excludes Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients from obtaining ACA coverage. CMS said the policies will ensure federal subsidies to offset the cost of ACA coverage only support statutory goals of the law. Yes, but: In response to public comments, CMS is making several of its changes temporary. For plan year 2026 only, CMS will begin charging a $5 monthly premium for consumers who are automatically reenrolled in an ACA plan from one year to the next and would otherwise have fully subsidized coverage. Other changes concerning income verification for enrollees will also end after 2026. Between the lines: Insurance losses from the new policy will be felt hardest in states where "erroneous and improper enrollment is most noticeable," including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah, CMS said.
Boston Globe
32 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
A potential strike on Iran tests Trump's propensity to play to both sides
Since his first campaign for president 10 years ago, Trump has excelled at appearing to favor both sides of the same issue, allowing supporters to hear what they want to hear, whether he's talking about tariffs, TikTok, abortion, tax cuts, or more. But the prospect that the United States might join Israel in bombing Iran is testing his ability to embrace dueling positions with little to no political cost. Some of Trump's most ardent supporters — those who defended him during multiple investigations and ultimately returned him to the White House — are ripping one another to shreds over the idea and at times lashing out at Trump as well. Advertisement The war in Iran is exactly the kind of Middle East entanglement that Trump's anti-interventionist base believed he was bitterly opposed to, because he repeatedly said he was. But he is also the same president who, in his first term, authorized missile strikes in Syria, after its leadership used chemical weapons on citizens, and the assassination of a top Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani — two actions he took pride in. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up To Trump, the contradictions are not actually contradictions. 'I think I'm the one that decides that,' he told The Atlantic recently in response to criticism from one of his most vocal anti-interventionist supporters, Tucker Carlson, who said the president's support for Israel's fight in Iran ran against his 'America First' message. Trump was propelled to victory in the Republican primary in 2016 as an outsider, in part because he forcefully condemned the invasion of Iraq, authorized by the last Republican president more than a decade before, and the seemingly endless war that followed. Yet he said the United States should have taken the country's oil, and ran radio ads saying he would 'bomb the hell' out of the Islamic State group. Advertisement He has said he wants to renew the tax cuts he put into effect in his first term, which saved some of the wealthiest earners millions, while also suggesting that congressional Republicans should implement a new tax on the wealthiest. He has said he supports businesses and also wants to deport the immigrant workforce that fuels parts of the economy. He wants to engage in mass deportation and also wants to sell visas for $5 million. He has celebrated the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade as a point of pride while also condemning Republican governors who signed bills banning most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. He has both celebrated and criticized his own criminal justice reform bill of 2018. Despite the contradictions, Republicans for years have been united in support of Trump and what he says he wants, giving him a benefit of the doubt that few, if any, career politicians have ever received. Even when most elected Republicans held Trump at a distance after the deadly attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump still had a tight grip on Republican primary voters. Trump, a celebrity known to the electorate for decades, has obscured long-standing and unresolved foreign policy divisions within the party dating back to the aftermath of President George W. Bush's push to invade Iraq. Advertisement But as Trump decides whether to plunge the United States into the heart of the Israel-Iran conflict, his core supporters are splintering. Trump's announcement Thursday that he could take up to two weeks to decide did not sit well with some of his most hawkish supporters. On social media, Fox News host Mark Levin began a lengthy post by suggesting that the president was being pulled back from what he actually wants to do. 'LET TRUMP BE TRUMP!' Levin wrote. 'We got our answer. Iran says no unconditional surrender. Again. And again. And again. They cheat and lie and kill. They're TERRORISTS!' His anti-interventionist supporters, meanwhile, have been equally alarmed by what he might decide to do. 'Anyone slobbering for the U.S. to become fully involved in the Israel/Iran war is not America First/MAGA,' Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, posted on social media over the weekend. Trump's advisers say that on the Israel-Iran conflict in particular, the president is dealing with a fast-moving, complicated situation that does not lend itself to simple, black-and-white solutions, despite the fact that he has consistently campaigned that way. 'President Trump considers the nuances of every issue but ultimately takes decisive action to directly benefit American families,' said Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson. 'The American people trust this president to make the right decisions,' she said, adding that he 'started the Make America Great Again movement because he represents a new leadership that puts Americans first.' But in 2025, Trump is not the only one who can command media attention. Carlson is no longer on Fox News, but he has a show that streams on the social platform X and is a leading voice among foreign policy 'restrainers' who have argued that Trump would be acting against his own movement should he strike Iran. Advertisement Steve Bannon, an adviser who was exiled from the White House in the first year of Trump's first term, has become one of the dominant voices among the MAGA faithful with his 'War Room' podcast, delivering the same message as Carlson. Yet Trump has found that many of his allies will ultimately come back to him, despite unhappiness with some of his decisions.
