Today, Angela Merkel travels to Washington DC to meet United States President Donald Trump. It is not a visit for pleasure between the two world leaders and crucial issues are on the agenda.
Naturally, one of the topics will be the tariffs imposed by Trump on steel and aluminium. This measure will be implemented on May 1st. Merkel will probably try to negotiate with Trump on this decision because it would be terrible for trade relations between the US and the European Union. Germany exports more to the US than to any other countries.
Trump disagrees with the German decision not to join the allied air assault in Syria and he will probably be less likely to make compromises.
But unlike the French President Macron, Angela Merkel refuses to flatter Trump to win his favour. The German chancellor has regularly been the target of Trump’s tweets but ignored it most of the time.
The two leaders have very different personalities; J.D Bindenagel, director of the Center for International Security and Governance at the University of Bonn and former US diplomat, said that “She’s very cautious. He’s brash. There’s more conflict than there is consensus in that relationship”.
Today’s meeting is decisive both for Trump and Merkel. The German press hopes that US-Germany relations will be improved and that Trump will change his mind about European Union taxes. Journalists around the country claim that “Trade is the lifeblood of Germany”.
Déborah Miller
For further information:
Politico’s website. https://www.politico.eu/article/after-emmanuel-macron-high-us-president-donald-trump-germany-angela-merkel-comedown-visit/, visited on 27/04/18
Washington Post website. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/trump-merkel-meeting-is-more-business-than-pleasure-for-both-leaders/2018/04/26/65bbeeb0-46ff-11e8-8082-105a446d19b8_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.cc519e4fe478, visited on 27/04/18
Euronews website. http://fr.euronews.com/2018/04/26/merkel-trump-renouer-les-liens, visited on 27/04/18
