Trump's Oval Office press conferences, a difficult test for visiting leaders, have stopped

Foreign leaders never liked them. The president may have also come to realize the set-up wasn't as advantageous to him as it seemed.

President Donald Trump during an Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last summer. After an initial blowup in February, subsequent meetings were more cordial. | Aaron Schwartz/CNP

Last year’s high-stakes meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy imploded in real time. Cameras rolling, Zelenskyy audaciously contradicted President Donald Trump — only to be berated at length and then ejected from the White House before a planned ceremonial lunch.

Now, those reality TV moments that were a defining feature of year one have stopped. Trump has not staged one public Oval Office spectacle with a foreign leader this year.

But that could change when German Chancellor Friedrich Merz meets with Trump on Tuesday. Initially, the two had been expected to meet almost entirely behind closed doors, according to two people familiar with the planning and granted anonymity to discuss it.

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