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The ongoing dispute between the United States and Germany over a Russian gas pipeline, called Nord Stream 2, is expected to be played out on Thursday between the two leaders of the Oval Office, according to senior administration officials. Climate change, Covid-19 vaccines, Russian cyber attacks, Ukraine and strengthening their democracies are also topics on the agenda, an official said.
The visit comes just three months before Merkel left her post as Chancellor of Germany in October, having held the post for more than 15 years. Elections to replace the “Chancellor of the Free World” take place in September.
Biden will be the fourth US president she interacts with.
Administration officials have consistently described the visit as a forward-looking “working” session, despite Merkel’s limited time at the top of the German government. But after a decade and a half of visiting Washington, his last trip to meet with an American president is a time to reflect on his legacy.
Biden will “express his gratitude” for Merkel’s leadership role in Europe and the world at their meeting, an official said.
Merkel starts the day with a breakfast hosted by Vice President Kamala Harris at the Naval Observatory. She will be the first foreign leader Harris has welcomed into his residence since moving in.
Biden and Merkel will meet face-to-face in the Oval Office before an expanded session with assistants and a concluding joint press conference. Biden and his wife will host Merkel and her husband for a White House dinner with a “range of people” who have been supporters of Germany. And Merkel will also receive an honorary degree from Johns Hopkins University while in the United States – marking her 18th honorary degree to date.
Officials said leaders would unveil a “Washington Declaration” that sets out a common vision for cooperation on various political challenges, and a shared commitment to human rights and the results democratic leadership delivers to the world. . They will also announce other initiatives, including a “futures forum” that will bring together Americans and Germans from different sectors; an economic dialogue; and a climate-energy partnership.
A warm relationship with crucial points of friction
So far, signs point to a resumption of warm relations between the two countries after four years of former President Donald Trump’s “America First” diplomatic approach. The approach served as a radical departure from the Obama administration’s foreign policy era – when Merkel viewed then-President Barack Obama as a “partner and friend.”
“Do not think that from tomorrow there will be only harmony between us,” she told reporters a day after Biden’s inauguration. “There will also be arguments about how best to do things for our two countries.”
Biden and Merkel have met on several occasions, and Thursday’s White House meeting will be their second in-person meeting since Biden was sworn in.
Biden and Merkel have interacted on the world stage regularly since the Obama years.
While a vice president, Biden addressed a number of foreign policy issues as part of his portfolio, traveling to the Munich Security Conference each year and appearing alongside Merkel. At the time, Biden made known his differences with Germany over whether to send weapons to Ukraine.
Obama, meanwhile, visited Germany half a dozen times during his tenure – excluding stops at Ramstein Air Base, a common pit stop for Air Force One on extended trips.
But despite their commonalities, Biden and Merkel still have a number of differences that will be on the table when they meet in Washington on Thursday.
The United States believes the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, which transports natural gas from Russia directly to Germany under the Baltic Sea, will give Moscow undue leverage over Europe’s energy sector. But the White House does not expect to reach a resolution when it comes up on Thursday.
Biden will share his “long-standing concerns” about Nord Stream 2 with Merkel, including his desire to ensure that it is not used for coercive purposes against Ukraine, according to an official.
Instead, officials believe Biden’s decision earlier this year to lift Congressional sanctions against Germany allowed “diplomatic space” for talks between the two sides, though no resolution on the thorny. question was not found.
Matthias Matthijs, senior research fellow for Europe at the Council on Foreign Relations and associate professor at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, said it was clear that Germany “wants to move forward with the pipeline and wants to reassure the United States that it has won, don’t give (President Vladimir’s) Putin’s Russia the opportunity to blackmail the EU. ”
“The Germans are hoping to get the basic green light (Nord Stream 2), a commitment from the United States that they can increase their exports of liquefied natural gas to Europe, and will want to avoid getting dragged into a new cold war. with China, where Berlin has its own commercial interests, ”he added. Matthijis also said the Germans hope the United States will lift their hundreds of tariffs on the European Union, but this is an area Biden is less likely to engage in.
China is also likely to expose the differences between the two leaders. Merkel has advocated a more cooperative approach towards Beijing – her country’s most important trading partner – even as Biden struggles to consolidate Western support for a more confrontational approach.
Those differences were manifested at the G7 summit last month, although Merkel joined other European leaders in signing a final declaration denouncing China’s forced labor practices.
Biden has been clear in talks with Merkel and other leaders about the need to “engage China from a position of strength,” one official said – a message he will repeat on Thursday.
Yet the Biden administration’s diplomatic approach contrasts with the Trump years.
Merkel will be the first European leader to visit Biden in the White House. He met Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga in April and South Korean President Moon Jae-in in May.
CNN’s Nadine Schmidt contributed to this report.
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