(AFP) – German Chancellor Friedrich Merz left Monday for Washington where he is set to become the first European leader to visit President Donald Trump since the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran. The previously scheduled White House meeting Tuesday had been expected to focus on the Ukraine war, US-EU trade tensions and a wider effort to salvage frayed transatlantic ties.
Now the key topic will be the war started by the US-Israeli attacks on Iran that killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and have seen Tehran strike back at targets across the region and beyond, with no quick end in sight to the fighting. The German chancellor — long a harsh critic of the Islamic republic’s leadership — on Sunday said Berlin shared the Iranian people’s “relief” that the “mullah regime is coming to an end”.
On the issue of whether the attack complied with international law, Merz said now was not the time “to lecture our partners and allies” and pointed to past failed attempts to curb Tehran’s nuclear and missile programmes. Germany, France, and Britain said Sunday they were ready to defend their interests and those of their allies in the Gulf if necessary by taking “defensive action” against Iran. Trump’s hawkish ally, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, slammed all three for what he labelled their “pathetically soft” response to America’s “Operation Epic Fury”.
Germany has since made clear it would not join the war, other than to take any actions needed to protect its troops based in the Middle East. “For us, it means nothing more than that our Bundeswehr soldiers, if attacked, would defend themselves,” said Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, with no “measures beyond this” planned. The escalating Middle East war, and Europe’s stance on it, add another potential flashpoint to the Merz-Trump meeting, held at a time of growing estrangement between the long-time allies.
Much divides Merz, 70, a Christian Democrat with transatlantic and multilateral instincts, and Trump, 79, a former property tycoon and reality TV star who leads the MAGA movement. Nonetheless, Merz — alongside NATO chief Mark Rutte, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Finland’s Alexander Stubb — has managed to maintain cordial ties with Trump and escape his wrath or ridicule. He has done so in part by meeting a key Trump demand and massively raising German defence spending, in line with America’s position that European NATO members need to step up on joint defence.
When it comes to Trump’s tariffs blitz, Merz has been able to point out that the European Union, not its 27 member states, is in charge of managing the response. In their Oval Office talk, Merz will outline the EU’s “coordinated position”, a spokesman said, adding that “businesses need planning security, and that applies on both sides of the Atlantic”. Germany’s Mechanical Engineering lobby group urged him, “despite the current focus on the Iran war” to “use his good relationship with US President Trump to achieve a comprehensive and reliable tariff agreement between the EU and the USA”.
Merz has at times pushed back against the mercurial US president, especially over Ukraine, and often asserted that Europe must become more sovereign in times of geopolitical upheaval. During their first White House meeting last June, Merz challenged Trump to heap pressure on Moscow to end the “terrible” Ukraine war raging since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion. Trump at the time called Merz “a very good man to deal with” and wryly said he could be “difficult” — a comment that was however widely read as approving rather than critical.
Merz then also pointed to Trump’s German family roots, presenting him with his grandfather’s German birth certificate and inviting him to visit his ancestral homeland. At February’s Munich Security Conference, Merz pointed to the “deep rift” between the traditional allies — but also urged America to “repair and revive transatlantic trust together”.
– Martin Trauth and Frank Zeller
© 2024 AFP
