Avowed globalist to meet with ‘America 1st’ Trump
BERLIN — He has tried to close the door on Muslim refugees. She opened it. He calls himself a tough negotiator. She’s an eventempered consensus builder. He wants to put America first. She is first and foremost a globalist.
President Trump will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House this week, marking the first face-toface encounter between the new U.S. commander in chief and the woman known as “Europe’s decider.” When they meet, the two leaders with little in common will find themselves belatedly moving to forge a relationship that could determine the future of trans-Atlantic ties.
Merkel and Trump had planned to get together Tuesday, but the meeting was delayed until Friday because of a major snowstorm forecast to hit the East Coast.
After the exit of President Barack Obama from the world stage, some have hailed Merkel as the new standard-bearer of liberal democracy. But she heads to Washington poised instead to fall back on her most signature trait: pragmatism. Merkel might have been one of Trump’s punching bags on the campaign trail, but she is willing to set that aside.
“Talking with each other instead of talking about each other will be my motto for the visit, which I am very much looking forward to,” she said Monday in Munich.
Whether Trump accepts that gift is anybody’s guess, and Merkel’s visit will undoubtedly spotlight the serious concerns in Berlin about his unconventional presidency. They include fears of a looming trade war and an undermining of the European Union, as well as worries of roughshod decision-making in the Middle East that could provoke another refugee crisis.
That Merkel and Trump are off to a rocky start is no secret. Trump took swipes at her during the campaign, decrying her refugee policy as “a sad, sad shame.” For her part, Merkel — who was considered Obama’s closest ally in Europe — responded with a congratulatory message after Trump’s victory that seemed to school him on the importance of democratic values.
Now, weeks after Trump’s meetings with the leaders of other nations, including Japan and Britain, Merkel will arrive in Washington with perhaps more to lose than to gain. Locked in a tougher-than-expected bid for re-election this year, she must somehow demonstrate that she is willing to stand up for European values and positions, while also making nice with a trash-talking businessman-turned-president who is deeply unpopular among Germans.
“Merkel wants to demonstrate to the political world in Germany and Europe that she can handle Trump,” said Josef Janning, head of the Berlin office of the European Council on Foreign Relations.
Asked whether Merkel would address Trump’s plan to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico, one German official said the chancellor would not interfere in U.S. domestic politics. But he noted that Merkel, as a former citizen of East Germany, had “her own experiences” with walls and clearly advocated a barrier- and border-free Europe.