During a meeting in an oval office with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Thursday, President Donald Trump noted that it could be better to allow Ukraine and Russia to “fight” for a while to enter and promote peace. Trump compared a conflict with a quarrel between two young children who despised each other and said he had handed over this analogy to Russian President Vladimir Putin during his telephone conversation the previous day.
Chancellor Merz, sitting along Trump, emphasized their shared conviction of the ongoing war, described it as “terrible” and emphasized Trump’s role as key characters capable of ending the bloodshed. However, Merz was clear that Germany firmly supports Ukraine and notes that Kiev focuses only on military goals and not Russian civilians. “We are trying to strengthen them,” he added.
This meant the first personal meeting between two leaders who exchanged pleasure, including the gift from Merz to Trump-Gelled Trump, Friedrich Trump, who emigrated from Germany. They were expected to cover a number of problems, including the war in Ukraine, business relations and NATO defense.
Since the 6th May, Merz and Trump have spoken several times by telephone, and German officials described this relationship as “decent” and Merz trying to avoid antagonism characterized by Trump’s actions with his predecessor Angela Merkel.
Merz, a conservative with a strong business background and former Merkel’s rival, was active in diplomatic efforts surrounding Ukraine, traveled to Kiev shortly after he took the office and host of President Votodymyr Zellinsky in Berlin last week.
The White House official said that Trump planned to increase topics such as German defense, trade, Ukraine and concerns about “democratic back -back”, suggesting that shared values such as freedom of speech have worsened in Germany and should be restored.
Merz replied by opening a discussion of German domestic politics, but stressed that Germany generally refers to commenting on American internal affairs.
Under Merz’s predecessor, Olaf Scholz, in Germany, became the second largest supplier of military assistance in Ukraine after the United States. Merz has committed to maintaining this support and recently committed to helping Ukraine to develop long -range missile systems without limiting scope.
Despite his comments to let the conflict play, Trump did not rule out sanctions and warned that “when I see a moment when it does not stop … we will be very, very hard,” they indicate that sanctions can be imposed on both Ukraine and Russia.
On the domestic market, the Merz government intensifies the efforts to strengthen the German army, a campaign initiated by Scholz after a Russian invasion of Ukraine in full.
Trump, who criticized Germany during his first term, for not fulfilling 2% of NATO defense spending, now demanding that the Allies increase their contributions to at least 5%.
The upcoming NATO summit in the Netherlands at the end of this month is considered a key opportunity for Germany to commit to this higher level of expenditure.
(Tagstotranslate) German military military
