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Merkel visits Trump without illusions, but with hope

By Paul Carrel and Jeff Mason

 

FILE PHOTO: Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President Donald Trump hold a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., March 17, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

 

BERLIN/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Germany's Angela Merkel visits U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday with no illusions of matching his "special relationship" with France's Emmanuel Macron, but hoping to foster a broader dialogue on trade - one of a batch of tricky topics likely to be addressed.

 

The cautious Merkel has failed to establish a good personal rapport with the brash Trump, and the mood music of her one-day working visit to the White House will almost certainly contrast sharply with the tactile "bromance" between Trump and Macron.

 

Yet her trip may prove more productive. Before heading home after a three-day state visit in Washington, Macron acknowledged that, despite his efforts to dissuade Trump from pulling out of the multinational Iran nuclear deal, he remained likely to do so.

 

The Iran deal, looming U.S. tariffs on European steel and aluminium products, a planned Russian gas pipeline running under the Baltic Sea to Germany, and Berlin's military spending are issues that divide Merkel and Trump and likely to come up at their working lunch.

 

"The chancellor is pleased about this appointment because she is a convinced Atlanticist," a senior German official said. "It is important to cultivate this relationship."

 

In Washington, a White House official described Germany as one of the United States' closest partners and a steadfast NATO ally, adding: "All of Washington is ready to work with Chancellor Merkel's new government."

 

Ahead of the trip, German officials said they expected U.S. tariffs on European steel and aluminium products to kick in on May 1, when an exemption expires. But they said Germany would try to negotiate a broad package including other industries.

 

"I think the chancellor would prefer a broad dialogue with the Americans. The government is open to extending the package to other duties and trade barriers," one official added.

 

In Washington, a White House official said the United States would press Germany about trade deficits that "pose risks to global economic stability", and "would like to remove barriers ... to trade so that we can level the playing field".

 

"We want to work with Berlin on global unfair trading practices because those are impacting our economies in equal measure," he said.

 

BURDEN-SHARING

The White House official said Trump would press Merkel to increase Germany's funding for NATO, a subject he has pushed since taking office.

 

"We will ask Germany to step up on burden-sharing," the official said, adding that NATO needed to be strong and prepared to address a host of major foreign policy issues including Syria, Iran, China and Russia.

 

In Berlin, the German officials made clear that Merkel was not ready to roll over when faced with Trump's criticism of Germany's trade position or the planned Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

 

"Our analysis is ... that (the pipeline) does not make us more dependent on Russia," one of the officials said.

 

EU countries are divided on the merits of Nord Stream 2. Trump could seize on this, as well as Germany's slow progress in moving closer to the NATO defence spending target.

 

On Iran, Macron made the running ahead of Merkel's visit.

 

On Wednesday, he called on the United States not to abandon the Iran deal as Western envoys said Britain, France and Germany were nearing agreeing a package they hope could persuade Trump to save the pact. This gives Merkel something to work with.

 

"How harshly the whole thing will unfold might depend on to what extent Merkel can steer the conversation in the direction of trade and Iran," Jan Techau, a director at The German Marshall Fund of the United States.

 

"Those are the fields in which her position is stronger because the Europeans are united and Macron has done the prep work."

 

(Additional reporting by Andreas Rinke and Andrea Shalal; writing by Paul Carrel; editing by Andrew Roche)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-04-27

[alocacoc]

Haha. That's cute how the EU 'leaders' waiting in the queue to speak with the big boss. Hope they did their homework.



Sent from a so called Smartphone using an App.

[boomerangutang]

The 1st thing to know about Trump is: his word isn't worth a snot-rag.

I'm sure leaders around the world know that.  

[canuckamuck]

Just don't kiss her like you did Macron, you will turn to stone.

 

[Topdoc]

This will be interesting especially as a recent survey in Germany showed that a massive 94% of the population want to see good relations between Russia and Germany.

 

I have the survey pdf file but it's in German language so I'm not sure it will be allowed on this site. If anyone wants to see it just PM me.

 

Or you can find it on the net. The file is called:

Russland-und-der-Westen_130418.pdf 

If you google it, the specific question is on page 12

Edited April 27, 2018 by Topdoc

[Topdoc]

On a more serious note, I hope she doesn't have dandruff

[Scott]

Troll post removed.  

 

[Expatthailover]

I pity her.

A decent and intelligent woman with an impeccable record and a savvy politician having to listen to that dimwit.

Who would have thought that 70 years on Germany holds the high moral ground over usa.

[Srikcir]

6 hours ago, Topdoc said:

This will be interesting especially as a recent survey in Germany showed that a massive 94% of the population want to see good relations between Russia and Germany.

 

I have the survey pdf file but it's in German language so I'm not sure it will be allowed on this site. If anyone wants to see it just PM me.

 

Or you can find it on the net. The file is called:

Russland-und-der-Westen_130418.pdf 

If you google it, the specific question is on page 12

I couldn't link or connect to the file.

However, if one were to trust news from Russian government-owned Sputnik News, it reports ("Majority of Germans Seek Rapprochement With Moscow by Berlin - Poll") on March 17, 2018 a poll by Civey (a Berlin polling company)¹ that wasn't as supportive of Russia as the survey results that you allegedly found:

• 58% of German citizens responding to a new poll support friendly relations between their country and Russia
• 26% believe that Berlin should distance itself from Moscow, according to a recent survey conducted by the public opinion research institute Civey.
• 14% are in favor of continuing the current political course

¹  https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/civey#section-overview

[Baerboxer]

6 hours ago, Expatthailover said:

I pity her.

A decent and intelligent woman with an impeccable record and a savvy politician having to listen to that dimwit.

Who would have thought that 70 years on Germany holds the high moral ground over usa.

 

They're your opinions about Merkel, which you're fully entitled to.

 

I don't deny her intelligence or her chameleon ability to turn from a communist youth leader associated with the Stassi into a Christian Democrat. 

 

But impeccable record is stretching a bit! Especially sine her open doors announcements. 

 

Germany certainly does not hold any moral high ground over the USA.