Trump to host German Chancellor Merz

President Trump will meet with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz next week at the White House.

The meeting was announced by the chancellor in a statement Saturday, saying it’s his inaugural visit and first chance to see Mr. Trump in person.

The meeting will focus on the two countries’ relations and international issues such as the Russia-Ukraine war, trade and the Middle East, the statement said.

Mr. Merz, a member of the country’s center-right Christian Democratic Union, was elected in May. His visit to the White House is set for Thursday.

Germany has been pushing for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. Mr. Merz met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this week.

The chancellor also announced that Ukraine’s allies, including the U.S. and Germany, have lifted restrictions on a range of missiles.

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“There are no longer any range restrictions on weapons supplied to Ukraine. Neither from the British, nor from the French, nor from us. Nor by the Americans,” Mr. Merz said at an event held by the German public broadcaster WDR. “That means Ukraine can also defend itself by, for example, attacking military positions in Russia.”

The two administrations have criticized each other in recent months. Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have commented on the European country’s labeling of the Alternative for Germany party as a “proven right-wing extremist organization.”

“It’s one thing to say that a particular set of views is gross … or somehow outside the Overton window, outside the bounds of reasonable discourse,” Mr. Vance told NBC News last week. “I think that it is very, very dangerous to use the neutral institutions of state — the military, the police forces … the intel services — to try to delegitimize another competing political party. I think that’s especially true when that political party just got second in an election and is, depending on which poll you believe, either the [most] popular or the second-most popular party.”

Mr. Merz shot back in an interview with the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network that was published this month, saying his country has “largely stayed out of the American election campaign in recent years, and that includes me personally.”

“We have not taken sides with either candidate,” he said. “And I ask you to accept that in return.”