|
BELLY OF THE BEAST
RISKY BUSINESS: As every foreign leader knows, you never know what you’re going to get with Donald Trump.
Prepared for an ambush: So when conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz walked into the Oval Office on Thursday, he was prepared for an ambush of the kind endured by the leaders of Ukraine and South Africa during their visits to Washington. Given the Trump administration’s sympathy for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Merz’s main political opponents, it’s not hard to fathom how badly things could have gone.
Sensitive subject: While Merz avoided the worst-case scenarios, it still could not have been very comfortable for him when the U.S. president twice brought up Germany’s Nazi past.
Freeloading: When a reporter asked whether Germany was spending enough on defense, Trump called it a “positive thing” that Merz’s government has acted to bolster the armed forces. After all, Trump, during his first term, repeatedly called Germany “delinquent” on defense spending and threatened to withdraw thousands of U.S. troops.
What would Douglas MacArthur say? But now Trump seems to have some second thoughts. “I’m not sure that General MacArthur would have said it’s positive, you know. He wouldn’t like it, but I sort of think it’s good.” Trump then alleged that MacArthur, the U.S. general who commanded the Southwest Pacific Theatre during World War II, said “never let Germany rearm.”
‘A bad thing?’ “I always think about that when he [Merz] says, ‘Sir, we’re spending more money on defense,’” Trump went on. “I say, ‘Ooh, is that a good thing or a bad thing?’ I think it’s a good thing. But, you know, at least to a certain point. There’ll be a point when I’ll say, ‘Please don’t arm anymore if you don’t mind.’ Trump then patted Merz on the leg, and added: “We’ll be watching him.”
‘Not a pleasant day’: The second reference to Germany’s Nazi past came when Merz was trying to make a point about bringing an end to the war in Ukraine and, in the process, mentioned the 81st anniversary of the D-Day landings. Then Trump interrupted: “That was not a pleasant day for you.”
Owing the Americans: Merz handled it about as well as can be expected. “No, that was not pleasant, but as well, in the long run, Mr. President, this was the liberation of my country from Nazi dictatorship,” Merz said. “And we know what we owe you. But this is the reason why I’m saying that America is again in a very strong position to do something on this war and ending this war.”
‘Biggest scandal’: For most of the visit, Merz sat back and allowed Trump to speak, including during a rant on what Trump has alleged was the Biden administration’s use of “the autopen” to sign important documents, or as Trump put it next to Merz: “Outside of the rigged election of 2020, the biggest scandal of the last many years.”
Remaining silent: In a post-game interview with German newspaper Welt, Jürgen Hardt — a lawmaker from Merz’s party — said the chancellor had concluded that staying out of the line of fire “was perhaps the best strategy.”
Back in Berlin on Friday, Merz expressed delight at how the trip had gone and suggested that his bilateral talks with Trump behind closed doors were way more substantive. “My conclusion from this encounter is different from perhaps the public image,” Merz told a business summit. “This American government is open to discussion, listens, is prepared to accept other opinions … You can talk to them.”
NATO and trade: Merz also said he had “no doubt at all that the American government is committed to NATO,” a sharp shift from his rhetoric on the night of his election win in February. The U.S. and Germany would have two representatives “talking intensively with each other about German-American trade relations embedded in the European framework,” he said, adding: “The lunch was worth its weight in gold for that.”
Unscathed: But perhaps most consequential for Merz and his closest advisers was that he came away having avoided direct conflict and humiliation. As conservative lawmaker Hardt put it: “The message was: we are good friends,” he said. “What more could we want?”
*What is the latest in the transatlantic relationship? Curious about tariffs, the AI Act, and transatlantic cooperation? Register for Aspen Germany’s German-American Trade & Tech Conference, June 24-25, online & in Berlin. More here.*
MIGRATION SAGA
ANY TIPS? In a reminder of how much the German government’s crackdown on migration resembles similar efforts by Trump, Fox News anchor Aishah Hasnie asked Merz during his Washington visit whether he had any advice for Trump “in terms of the courts trying to impede your agenda.” Her inquiry followed a ruling by a Berlin court on Monday that deemed the government’s push to turn away asylum-seekers at the country’s borders unlawful.
The fallout: The ruling had the potential to pose a major challenge to Merz, who in the lead up to his election victory promised to implement an “effective entry ban” on undocumented migrants and asylum-seekers from his first day in office. In a further twist, the government announced it would stick to its practice, contesting the scope of the court ruling. That led the Greens’ Marcel Emmerich to accuse conservative Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt in a post on X of acting “like a law-and-order sheriff” whose behavior “is an intolerable imposition on the democratic constitutional state.”
The plan: Meanwhile, Dobrindt announced that he would soon provide the courts with sufficient justification that Germany was entitled to suspend European law in response to a threat to safety or order (the court said in its ruling this had not been sufficiently demonstrated). Integration efforts have their limits, Dobrindt said in a talk show on public television:“You can feel it in the daycare centers, in the schools, you can feel it in the language courses, in the integration courses … we can refer to this excessive demand.”
IN OTHER NEWS
NEIN TO SETTLEMENTS: Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul condemned a plan by Israel’s government to undertake a major expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank during a joint press conference with his Israeli counterpart Gideon Sa’ar in Berlin on Thursday. “Even as friends, we cannot ignore this,” Wadephul said. “The settlement policy in this form is contrary to international law. It literally obstructs the two-state solution — and that is the solution that we as the German government continue to stand for.”
BUNDESWEHR EXPANSION: Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has ruled out an immediate return of conscription, even as he outlined plans to expand the Bundeswehr during a NATO defense ministers’ meeting in Brussels Thursday. Pistorius — facing stagnating troop numbers — stated that Germany will need to add 50,000 to 60,000 active-duty soldiers to its current strength of 182,000 to meet NATO’s new capability targets.
SPY PLOT: A U.S. agent has been arrested for allegedly offering classified information to Germany’s spy agency out of anger at the Trump administration, according to a German media report. The cyber security expert, who worked for the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, allegedly offered sensitive documents to the German foreign intelligence service in March. The Germans, however, informed their U.S. counterparts, who then arrested the man in an undercover operation, according to the report.
THE WEEK AHEAD
DUTCH PM VISIT: The Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Dick Schoof, will meet Merz in Berlin on Tuesday for talks on bilateral and European cooperation.
NATIONAL PRIZE: Merz will give a laudatory speech on Tuesday for the winners of the so-called national prize, which in this year goes to the co-founders of BioNTech, Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci.
Thanks to Douglas Busvine.
HATE MAIL: Send complaints (if you must), tips, checks and random thoughts to [email protected].
SUBSCRIBE to the POLITICO newsletter family: Brussels Playbook | London Playbook | London Playbook PM | Playbook Paris | EU Election Playbook | Berlin Playbook | Global Playbook | POLITICO Confidential | Sunday Crunch | EU Influence | London Influence | Berlin Bulletin | Living Cities | D.C. Playbook | D.C. Influence | Canada Playbook | All our POLITICO Pro policy morning newsletters