German Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to meet (NYT) with U.S. President Joe Biden and other top U.S. officials at the White House today for what is likely Merkel’s last visit to the United States as chancellor. The leaders aim to signal stability in the U.S.-Germany relationship and are due to discuss a range of issues (WaPo), including those related to Afghanistan, China, Iran, and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
Biden and Merkel have long supported strong U.S.-European ties and an international alliance system, but during the Donald Trump administration, Merkel helped chart a direction for European foreign policy that was less dependent on the United States. And while Biden has encouraged U.S. allies to jointly counter China’s rise, Merkel has called for cooperation with China (AP) on issues such as the pandemic and climate change. Her sixteen-year tenure will end after September elections, though her Christian Democratic Union of Germany party is leading in polls.
“Biden has made mending fences with Germany, and with Merkel in particular, a high priority after four years in which President Donald Trump made her the target of many of his complaints about Europe,” the Washington Post’s Karen DeYoung and David J. Lynch write.
“Trump was not the cause but rather the symptom of a structural change in the U.S. relationship with Germany and Europe,” German political analyst Josef Braml tells the Wall Street Journal.
