German Chancellor Friedrich Merz emerged unscathed from his first Oval Office meeting with US President Donald Trump, avoiding the public confrontations that marked recent visits by other allied leaders, according to Euractiv.
While Trump dominated the conversation during the press segment, he offered repeated compliments to Merz – praising his electoral success and English fluency – while taking swipes at former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s migration policies.
Notably absent was feared discussion of Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, despite White House officials suggesting Trump would “likely” raise concerns about its parliamentary status. Merz confirmed the omission in a Fox News interview:
Surprisingly enough, we didn’t talk about that in any respect. I think this is now behind us. This party is a special party… We deal with them, we do our work as a government.
The chancellor’s diplomatic approach extended to gift-giving: he presented Trump with his German-born grandfather’s original birth certificate.
Merz pushed for tougher action against Russia, invoking D-Day’s impending anniversary to urge stronger US engagement. Trump responded with non-committal rhetoric and a controversial analogy.
I gave the analogy yesterday when I spoke to President Putin… sometimes you see two young children fighting like crazy… Sometimes you’re better off letting them fight for a while.
The US president vaguely referenced potential trade deals involving energy, taking credit for “stopping” Nord Stream 2. Merz later reiterated his request to Fox News:
It’s extremely complicated to bring the Russians to the table. That’s the reason why I asked the president to do more on Russia and to put pressure on Russia.
However, the meeting concluded without tariff reductions Merz sought for EU exports, leaving transatlantic policy gaps unresolved.
