German Chancellor Friedrich Mertz will have his first meeting at the Oval Office with Donald Trump today. But after the ambush set up by the US president with both the Ukrainian president and the president of South Africa, Mertz must be prepared today for everything.

Trump’s hostility to the “bad, very bad” Germans is infamous, and Mertz is sure to face sharp questions under the cruel look of television cameras about his comments on the night of the election last February that Europe should “have been” in Europe.

Mertz will also have to avoid misleading comments on a series of issues such as German car exports, support to NATO and Ukraine, and – perhaps the most embarrassing – Trump government’s sympathy to the far -right, anti -immigration party of the opposition.

The new Chancellor is committed to pushing Germany into a radically new direction As for the issues that are of interest to Trump, promising a massive increase in military spending and a suppression of immigration. The visit also coincides with a possible peace agreement hoped by Europeans will enter into cars to relieve the EU-UP trade war.

The president’s invitation to Mertz to stay in Blair House, the White House official, has also offered German officials to be more optimistic that they do not fall into a trap.

White house official, speaking anonymously at Politico, downgraded the risk of fireworks, describing the meeting with Mertz as “just another visit to a foreign leader”.

Leaders have repeatedly spoken by phone and Merz tried to gain Trump’s confidence by inviting him to the German village of the president’s ancestors, his grandfather’s birthplace, Friedrich Trump.

The German Chancellor seems to believe that the phone calls were made at a very good level. This good mood that has been a telephone spokesman for the German government, Stefan Cornelius, hopes he will continue during their meeting in Washington.

Hard start

But the beginning in their relationships was not easy at all. The US Vice President, Jay Di Vance In a speech at the Munich Security Conference in February, a few days before Mertz’s conservatives won the early elections, he attacked leaders of the dominant European society because he said they were “afraid” of their own voters, pointing out their “Wall” alienated party.

Foreign Minister Mark Rubio He also intervened in the debate, accusing Germany’s internal intelligence service of practicing “disguised tyranny” describing the AfD as extremist.

Vance’s comments shocked Mertz, who expressed his doubt on whether NATO could continue to exist in its current form, given the fears of the US role. This happened a few days after stressing the need for talks on Germany’s accession under British and French nuclear umbrella.

But from that troubled diplomatic authority, Berlin-Washington relationships have been significantly rehearsed.

Mertz’s government has made a coordinated effort to win Trump’s support. It has also opened new horizons that were previously inconceivable to happen, expressing its willingness to gradually proceed in the direction of 5% in defense spending, a huge jump from its current level just above 2%.

Mertz has also abandoned the debate about achieving “independence”.

During a visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels in May, Mertz said that the Trump government’s attitude towards Europe had “apparently changed” in the light of EU defense efforts and that it had become “more optimistic” for its future. The US, he added, is “necessary for Europe’s security today and for a long time”.

At a conference in Singapore last weekend, US Secretary of Defense Pitt Hegsez stood out Germany as an example to imitate other nations, even joking as he said “it’s hard to believe … I say that.”

High bets

While much of this meeting for Trump government officials are not at stake, Mertz is not the case.

Europe’s ability to defend, a common strategy for ending the Russian war in Ukraine, and the end of the duty war that destabilizes the European Union’s economy could largely depend on whether the two sides will have a good meeting.

According to a person who knows the discussion, Mertz’s team will also arrive at just when Europeans are starting to offer tangible commercial gifts to get things going well. Brussels are promoting an EU plan to relax its strict rules for autonomous cars and adopt more relaxed regulations in the context of a renewed attempt to persuade the Trump government to retreat from the duties imposed on imported cars and car spare parts.

But it is unlikely such technical details to prove decisive during the meeting, people close to Mertz believe.

Merz himself, however, has acknowledged the dangers of talks with Trump. “Anyone who sees and experiences Trump on television knows how he can go.”