Friedrich Merz and Donald Trump have already exchanged private cell phone numbers and they are on a first-name basis, but aside from a brief encounter in New York years ago, this Thursday will be the first time that the two leaders meet.

The new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is on his inaugural visit to Washington. Merz, like former chancellor Angela Merkel, the British Queen Elizabeth and French President Charles de Gaulle before him, has been invited to stay at the Blair House, directly adjacent to the White House.

It was only a few weeks ago that Merz expressed strong disapproval of events in the Oval Office in February, when the US president publicly ridiculed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and blamed him for Russia's war against his country. Merz also took issue with Vice President JD Vance and other Trump associates for expressing support for Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD).

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