German Chancellor Merz heads to Washington in shadow of war in Iran

By James Mackenzie

BERLIN, March 2 (Reuters) – German Chancellor Friedrich Merz faces a delicate task on Tuesday when he visits Washington for a meeting with President Donald Trump, now overshadowed by the U.S.-Israeli attack that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at the weekend.

Merz will be the first European leader to meet Trump since the start of the operation, which has blocked one of the world’s key oil shipping lanes and thrown global air transport into chaos.

On Sunday, Merz, who returned from China last week, expressed no criticism but stopped short of endorsing an operation which Trump’s critics have said was undertaken without sufficient explanation and the required legal backing in international law.

“We recognise the dilemma,” he said, explaining that repeated attempts over past decades had not put Iran off trying to acquire nuclear weapons or oppressing its own people. “So we’re not going to be lecturing our partners on their military strikes against Iran.”

“Despite all the doubts, we share many of their aims,” he said.

EUROPE SIDELINED AGAIN BY TRUMP

On Sunday, Merz joined French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer saying they were ready to work with the United States “to defend our interests and those of our allies in the region”.

But the war has once again exposed how far Europe has been sidelined by Washington in strategic operations that directly impact its own security and prosperity.

The visit had been expected to be dominated by efforts to reshape Germany’s transatlantic relationship after the Trump administration’s stinging rebukes of Europe over issues ranging from defence spending to trade and immigration policy over the past year.

Merz, a lifelong Atlanticist, has said Europe has to recognise that the world has entered a new era of rivalry in which it has to stand on its own. But he has been careful not to close the door on the U.S. alliance.

“On Tuesday morning, I will tell Trump once again that our hand remains outstretched. I want NATO to remain a Western alliance between America and Europe,” he told an electoral rally last week.

Last month, Merz told the Munich Security Conference that U.S. criticism of Europe’s past defence spending was justified.

With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine starkly exposing Europe’s dependence on the U.S. shield, Merz has pledged an unprecedented wave of borrowing to restore Germany’s armed forces after decades of post-Cold War neglect and underinvestment.

In trade, where Trump’s on-again, off-again tariff policies have roiled Germany’s export industry, Merz has pledged to work with European partners but the uncertain picture has been clouded by the Supreme Court decision last month to strike down tariffs imposed by the administration.

(Reporting by James Mackenzie, editing by Andrei Khalip)