President Donald Trump said on Thursday it would be better to let Ukraine and Russia “fight for a while” and then pull it apart and pursue peace.
In an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump compared the war in Ukraine to a war between Russia’s invasion in early 2022, with two young children who hate each other.
“Sometimes, it's better to let them fight for a while and then pull them away,” Trump said, adding that he compared the metaphor to Russian President Vladimir Putin during a phone conversation on Wednesday.
When asked about Trump’s comments, when the two leaders were adjacent to each other, Meles stressed that he and Trump both agreed to “how terrible it is in this war and how it happened”, pointing out that the U.S. president is “a key figure in the world” able to stop bleeding.
But Meers also stressed that Germany “sides Ukraine” and that Kiev only attacks military targets, not Russian civilians.
“We are working to make them stronger,” Meers said of Ukraine.
Thursday’s meeting marked the first time that the two leaders sat down in person. After exchanging pleasant attitudes – Merz provided Trump with a golden frame birth certificate from Friedrich Trump, the grandfather of the U.S. President who immigrated from Germany – both leaders will discuss issues such as Ukraine, trade and NATO spending.
Since Merz took office, Trump and Merz have spoken several times through bilateral or other European leaders. German officials say the two leaders have begun to build a “decent” relationship, and Merz hopes to avoid hostile ties with Trump with a Republican president of his striker Angela Merkel, during his first term as a Republican president.
Merz, 69, took over with a broad business background, is a conservative rival to Merkel's, who took over her party after retirement.
A White House official said Trump is likely to raise topics with Meles including Germany’s defense spending, trade, Ukraine and what the official calls a “democratic reverse slide,” saying the government’s view is that shared values such as freedom of speech in Germany and the country should be reversed. Officials previewed the discussions without giving anonymity.
But Melz told reporters Thursday morning that he was ready to do this if Trump wanted to talk about German domestic politics, but he also stressed that Germany continued to go back in U.S. domestic politics.
Get national news
For news that affects Canada and around the world, please sign up for breaking news alerts that were sent directly to you at the time.
After taking office last week and hosting Zelenskyy in Berlin, Melz traveled to Kiev with European leaders and to Kiev with European leaders. He thanked Trump for his support for the unconditional ceasefire, while rejecting Ukraine's idea of ”instructing peace” and advocating for more sanctions against Russia.
According to readers of the German government, Trump said in his first call since Merz became prime minister that he would support efforts to achieve peace in Germany and other European countries. Merz also said last month: “The importance of not letting ourselves separate in the political West is crucial, so I will continue to put in every effort to establish the greatest unity between European and American partners.”
Under the leadership of Meers' predecessor, Olaf Scholz, Germany became Ukraine's second largest supplier of military aid. Merz vowed to remain supportive and pledged last week to help Ukraine develop its own long-range missile systems that will not be subject to any range restrictions.
In his speech Thursday, Trump still left a threat of sanctions on the table. He said sanctions could be imposed on Ukraine and Russia.
“The moment I see it won't stop … we're going to be very, very hard,” Trump said.
At home, the Merz government is strengthening the driving force of the German army after Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. During Trump's first term, Berlin was his angry target as he failed to achieve NATO's current goal of spending 2% of GDP on defense, while Trump now demanded at least 5% of allies.
The White House official said the upcoming NATO summit in the Netherlands later this month is a “good opportunity” for Germany to promise to reach that five percent.
Scholz has established a special fund of 100 billion euros ($15 billion) to modernize German armed forces (called the German Wehrmacht), which has been overlooked for years. Thanks to the fund, Germany has reached its two-tenth goal, but it will be used in 2027.
“The government will provide all financing for the German National Weill United in the future to become the strongest conventional army in Europe,” said Meers. He endorsed the plans of all allies to spend 3.5% of GDP on the defense budget by 2032, and an additional 1.5% on potential defense-related infrastructure, such as infrastructure.
Another top priority for Merz is to let the German economy (the largest in Europe, moving again after shrinking in the past two years). He wants to make it a “growth motorcycle”, but Trump's tariff threat is a potential obstacle for a country whose exports are a key advantage. Currently, the economy is expected to stagnate in 2025.
Last year, Germany exported $160 billion worth of goods to the United States, according to the Census Bureau. That's about $85 billion higher than the trade deficit sent by the United States to Germany.
“Germany is one of the very important investors in the United States,” Melz told reporters Thursday morning. “In the United States, only a few countries have more investment than Germany. We rank third in foreign direct investment.”
The U.S. president is particularly following the German auto industry, which includes major brands such as Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Volkswagen. Last year, Americans bought $36 billion worth of cars, trucks and auto parts from Germany, while Germans bought $100.2 billion worth of cars and parts from the United States
Trump's 25% tariff on cars and parts is designed specifically to increase the cost of German-made cars so that they can move their plants to the U.S., although many companies already own plants in Tennessee, South Carolina and Alabama's Mercedes-Benz in South Carolina and South Carolina, in Tennessee, BMW.
In Washington, Merz's view is only possible with too many Merz, because trade negotiations are a problem with the EU Executive Committee, so tariffs “no one will benefit and harm everyone”. Trump recently delayed 50% tariffs on goods from the EU, which would otherwise take effect this month.
One of the sources of stress in recent months has been JD Vance’s contribution in Munich shortly before Germany’s election in February, telling European leaders about democracy on the country’s mainland and saying there is no place for “firewalls.”
The term is often used to describe mainstream German parties refusing to work with German far-right alternatives, which ranked second in the election and is now the largest opposition party.
Melz criticized the comments. He told ARD last month that this is not the U.S. vice president “says this to us in Germany; I will not do it in the U.S. either.”
–Murson reported on Berlin. Associated Press writer Josh Boak in Washington contributed to the report.
