Merz emerges from meeting with Trump relatively unscathed

Despite differences over Ukraine, German leader avoids pitfalls, stages charm offensive

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WASHINGTON - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz came through his Oval Office encounter with Mr Donald Trump relatively unscathed on June 5 - despite differences over Ukraine as the US President said it might be better to let Moscow and Kyiv fight it out like children.

A month into his job, Mr Merz unleashed a charm offensive on the 78-year-old Mr Trump, presenting him with a framed copy of the birth certificate of his grandfather Frederick, who was born in Germany in 1869.

Mr Merz also hailed the US leader as being the "key person in the world" when it came to ending the war in Ukraine, saying Mr Trump could "really do that now by putting pressure on Russia".

It was a backhanded way of urging him to overcome his aversion to putting sanctions on Russia over its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, as the more than three-year-old war grinds on.

The polite meeting showed that the conservative German leader had done his homework as he sought to avoid ambushes like those that Mr Trump unleashed on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

But they did not see eye to eye on everything.