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"We are not friends, but good colleagues"/ Merz after meeting with Trump

2025-06-06 19:08:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

"We are not friends, but good colleagues"/ Merz after meeting with

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz gave an interview to Deutsche Welle, following his meeting with US President Donald Trump.

Merz said the meeting covered a range of topics, including the war in Ukraine, tariffs and trade. The German chancellor said he tried to convince Trump to put more pressure on Russia in order to reach a ceasefire.

The Chancellor was also asked about his friendship with Trump, to which he said they are simply very good colleagues.

It seems you established a good relationship there, but you also had a more detailed meeting with him. Did you reach any concrete commitments on Ukraine after your reminder that the United States is the one making the difference on this issue?

Indeed, we spoke intensively about several issues. One of them was Ukraine and this terrible war of Russia against Ukraine. We talked about trade, about tariffs. It was not my expectation that the president would make a new decision today. But I argued and tried to convince him that now we have an obligation to exert more pressure on Russia to end this war. But, on the other hand, I know that this is a very complicated issue. Even here in the US, we have a strong debate in the Senate. I am optimistic, but I am not so optimistic as to predict that something will change overnight on the territory of Ukraine.

Donald Trump also said he could lose his patience with Russia and Ukraine and that he would be willing to hit both hard. In your opinion, how close is he to losing his patience with Ukraine?

He is seeing that his initiatives of the last few weeks have not been successful and that President Putin seems unwilling to stop this war. This is despite the very long phone conversation they had yesterday. So we are talking about instruments, about what we can do together, the European Union with Germany, and the US on this side of the Atlantic. I don't have an answer today, but I am sure he is thinking about what more he can do. And I reminded him that the US has always played the global role of putting pressure on those who are at war. And tomorrow is June 6, known as D-Day, when the Americans came to Europe in 1944 to stop the war in Europe. This could be a similar historical situation, not with military action, but with pressure on Russia to stop this war.

Trade was another important topic. President Trump reiterated that he likes tariffs, even though very few others think so. Is he soon feeling the pressure that tariffs could hurt the United States as well?

We are working within a very tight time frame. We would like to reach an agreement within the next few weeks. We have a short time left until the beginning of July, which is the deadline set by the US government. It is an issue that does not depend only on the German side: we have to coordinate it within the European Union. We are doing that. I will return to Europe and I will talk to my European colleagues about this. We will make proposals to overcome this situation. High tariffs are not in our interest. And I will try to convince the US government, especially the president, that we need to reach a solution. But it will take time.

How will you measure whether this meeting made a real difference?

I will measure that with regular meetings and other phone calls and concessions on both sides and a willingness to make a deal. And that's what I took from today: He is really willing to make a deal on trade, and if we can get that done in the near term, we would achieve much more than previous governments on both sides of the Atlantic. So this is a great opportunity.

You share the same name, Friedrich, as President Trump's grandfather, and you gave him a copy of his birth certificate. So could this be the beginning of a new brotherly friendship?

No, it's a very close collaboration. We met for the first time today, in our capacities as leaders, and I hope that we will be able to collaborate closely, openly and as good colleagues on both sides of the Atlantic.