MeMoMu_FIA_057 POLITICO: MERZ AVOIDS A BLOWUP IN THE OVAL, BUT TRUMP GOES HIS OWN WAY ON RUSSIA
President Donald Trump welcomes Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, on June 5, 2025. | Chris Kleponis/CNP / Kumari Vaim / ELFH
Merz avoids a blowup in the Oval, but Trump goes his own way on Russia
Germany’s new leader disarmed the president with praise, but their daylight on the war was clear.
By Eli Stokols
06/05/2025 01:43 PM EDT
President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz papered over their differences, especially concerning the war in Ukraine, during their first face-to-face meeting in the Oval Office on Thursday.
Merz, who just months ago responded to the administration’s hostile approach toward Europe by asserting that the continent needed to gain “independence” from the U.S., repeated to Trump that he needed the president’s help to end the war in Ukraine and achieve the peace they both desire.
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When Merz reminded Trump that Friday marked the 81st anniversary of D-Day, when American forces invaded France in an attack that eventually turned the tide of World War II, Trump joked that “that was not a pleasant day for you.”
The German chancellor delicately acknowledged his country’s Nazi history before underlining the point he hoped to make. “In the long run, Mr. President, this was the liberation of my country from Nazi dictatorship.
“We know what we owe you,” he continued. “This is the reason why I am saying that America is again in a very strong position of ending this war.”
Hinting that he’d prefer to have a deeper discussion once the press had left the room, he added: “We are looking for more pressure on Russia. And we should talk about that.”
Merz, in an interview with German public broadcaster ARD after he left the White House, said that the private conversation over lunch was “good” and that he “was able to remind him a little of this historical responsibility.”
But Trump, who has tried to pressure both sides into peace talks, expressed a new comfort level with the war dragging on and even escalating in the near term — even as he made clear he has no plans to greenlight bipartisan legislation to impose secondary sanctions on Moscow any time soon.
Trump said that the war was like “two young children fighting like crazy … sometimes you’re better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart,” and that he shared that analogy with Putin during their call on Wednesday.
“I said, ‘President, maybe you were going to have to keep fighting and suffering a lot, because both sides are suffering before you pull them apart, before they are able to be pulled apart.’”
Trump said he planned to wait to further sanction Russia until it became clear that peace was unachievable, suggesting in an aside that he could sanction Ukraine as well in the event that peace talks fail.
“When I see the moment when it’s not going to stop, we’ll be very tough,” Trump said. “And it could be on both countries.”
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