After record delay, Merkel says ‘time to start work’

BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel promised Monday to work for a strong Europe and said she’s hopeful talks can resolve the standoff over U.S. tariffs, declaring “it’s finally time to start work” as Germany’s new government prepares to take office.

Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, its Bavaria-only sister party the Christian Social Union, and the center-left Social Democrats signed their coalition agreement Monday. Parliament is due to elect Merkel for her fourth term as chancellor on Wednesday, a record 171 days after Germans voted.

Merkel has been only a caretaker chancellor since October, and many unresolved issues await the new government. Those include U.S. tariffs on foreign-made steel and aluminum announced by President Trump, along with threats of taxes on German automakers.

Merkel welcomed talks the European Union has already started, and said the new German government will hold talks of its own. “Such differences of opinion over whether situations are fair or not have to be resolved in talks, I think, and not if it can be avoided in some way by unilateral actions,” she told reporters in Berlin.

In Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron has been awaiting a German response to his calls for an ambitious European Union reform agenda.

Merkel said she and her finance minister-designate, Olaf Scholz, would visit France after being sworn in.

She said that “we need Europe — a Europe that shares the same values and acts together, particularly toward the outside world, and we ... will make our contribution.” And she said she hopes for progress in implementing the longtroubled peace deal for Ukraine after this weekend’s Russian presidential election.