Merz Says He’ll Discuss ‘Day After’ in Iran, Push Trump on Trade

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he intended to discuss with President Donald Trump the next steps in the war on Iran amid questions about the US administration’s endgame after it launched strikes on the Islamic Republic.

“We are on the same page in terms of getting this terrible regime in Iran away,” Merz told reporters during a White House visit on Tuesday. “We will talk about the day after, what will happen then, if they are out.”

The two leaders have deep disagreements that could shadow their meeting, such as trade and the conflict in Ukraine. Trump’s decision to strike Iran has also emerged as an irritant. War and peace may dominate the broader agenda for the German and US leaders.

“Germany has been great,” Trump said, even as he jabbed at other European nations such as Spain and the UK over their reservations about the US and Israeli strikes.

Merz previously voiced concerns, questioning whether the conflict could be contained. He said in Berlin that it was unclear whether political change inside the country could be sparked by outside military action.

He also expressed anxiety about the impact of the conflict on the global economy. Oil and gas prices have surged and investor fears of a lengthy disruption to energy markets have grown with the war now in its fourth day.

“This is, of course, damaging our economies. This is true for the oil prices, and this is true for the gas prices as well. So that’s the reason why we all hope that this war will come to an end as soon as possible,” Merz said. “And we are hoping that the Israeli and the American army are doing the right things to bring this to an end and to have really a new government in place who is coming back to peace and freedom.”

Merz is visiting the White House with other priorities beyond the war on Iran high on his agenda — and it’s unclear if he will be able to make progress on those fronts with the conflict dominating Washington’s attention.

The chancellor said Tuesday that he would also discuss trade — saying he would like to have an agreement with the European Union “in place as soon as possible.” Merz also raised concerns that forcing territorial concessions on Ukraine could undermine their future security.

“We have to talk about Ukraine. There are too many bad guys in this world, actually,” Merz said. “And this is an issue we have to talk about, because we all want to see this war coming to an end as soon as possible. But Ukraine has to preserve its territory and their security interests and well, we will talk about that.”

The US and Germany have long been strong allies, with Germany the economic powerhouse of Europe and the US the lead partner in the NATO defense pact. But Trump’s bellicose style and skepticism of global alliances have strained the relationship and forced Europe to begin bolstering its military capabilities with an eye toward relying less on Washington.

Merz is pushing Trump for a resolution regarding his tariffs on EU goods. An assessment by the bloc found Trump’s new global levy, announced after the Supreme Court struck down his old duties, would raise charges on the bloc’s exports of cheese and some agricultural products above what was agreed in a framework agreement last year.

The German leader is planning to insist that the EU will not accept a new tariff regime that is worse than the current pact, and stress that the bloc will retaliate if the deal is broken.

The court ruled that Trump’s use of emergency powers to impose tariffs violated the US Constitution, dealing a blow to the signature economic and foreign policy tool of his second term. The president responded to the decision by announcing a temporary 10% global levy — and a follow-up threat to raise that to 15% — in order to buy time to rebuild his tariff policy through other authorities.

Ratification of the EU-US trade deal in the European Parliament has been frozen due to the change. Discontent about Trump’s aggressive language on acquiring Greenland has also galvanized lawmakers.

Merz first met with Trump last year and the two held what was a comparatively calm meeting after the former reality television star used his Oval Office encounters to theatrically humiliate and cajole other foreign leaders.

Russia’s war with Ukraine ahead of US-led peace talks scheduled for later this week is one major sticking point. The US-Israeli strikes on Iran have thrown the location of those talks into doubt. Airspace in the United Arab Emirates, where the negotiations were to take place, is currently closed. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Monday that talks in Abu Dhabi around March 5-6 had not yet been canceled, and suggested Turkey and Switzerland as alternative meeting spots.

European allies worry that forcing Zelenskiy to cede control of the eastern Donbas region to Russia as part of a peace settlement would be unacceptable because that would rob Ukraine of a key defensive position, giving President Vladimir Putin’s forces a clear line to march to Kyiv.

Merz said in December that German troops could participate in a coalition to secure a demilitarized zone in Ukraine as part of a potential peace deal. Russia invaded Ukraine four years ago.