https://arab.news/8dcwc
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has had a challenging first year in office. However, in the past few days he has faced his toughest foreign policy test yet with key visits to both Washington and Beijing.
Merz’s trip to the US on Tuesday was overshadowed by the hostilities in the Middle East. While President Donald Trump and Merz have key policy differences, the mood music between them is significantly better than that between the US leader and former German leader Angela Merkel from 2017 to 2021.
Trump went out of his way to say that he has a good relationship with Germany and Merz in particular, calling him an “excellent leader,” an assessment that stems in part from Germany’s boost to defense spending. Merz has also worked hard in private to cultivate support from Trump and may now be his favorite leader in western Europe alongside Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Yet, important as this could be in the future, on issues such as Ukraine, Merz’s US trip may not have been as important as his earlier one to Beijing last week. While the German leader wants to maintain a strong relationship with Trump, he is aware this may not be possible, and is therefore hedging his bets with China.
