U.S. President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz kicked off a White House meeting on Thursday (June 5) with talks on Ukraine and trade but none of the fireworks that have characterized other Oval Office meetings with foreign leaders, Reuters reports.
Trump described Merz as a good representative of Germany and also "difficult," which he suggested was a compliment. He said U.S. troops would remain in Germany and said it was positive that Berlin was spending more money on defense.
Merz said he was pleased to be there and preparing for a deeper relationship with the United States.
The two leaders met in the Oval Office, which has been the site of showdowns between Trump and visiting dignitaries including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Not so on Thursday. Trump and Merz, both conservatives, appeared to have a warm rapport from the start. Merz started with praise, thanking Trump for putting him up in the Blair House, a presidential guest dwelling across from the White House, and Trump thanked him for doing so.
But tensions over trade simmered under the surface of their encounter. The United States and the European Union are in talks to reach a trade deal, which would be critical for Germany's export-heavy economy, but Trump said he would be fine with an agreement or with tariffs.
"We'll end up hopefully with a trade deal," Trump said. "I'm ok with the tariffs or we make a deal with the trade."
Merz, who took office last month, told reporters ahead of the meeting that they would discuss Russia's war in Ukraine, U.S. tariffs and NATO in the meeting but said he was not expecting major breakthroughs.
Germany is the second largest military and financial backer of Ukraine in its defense against Russia's invasion, after the United States.
Trump has urged NATO countries to spend more on defense, though he suggested there might be some limits on how far Berlin should go given its World War II past.
