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WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden welcomes German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the White House for what will likely be her last official visit and to which she brings a bag full of problems and a global message for Berlin’s close ally: you have a friend.
Veteran German leader expected Thursday to discuss coronavirus pandemic, the rise of China and a Russian gas pipeline which Washington opposes. She will meet with Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and other senior US officials.
“This is partly a farewell visit. In part, it signals the continuity and stability of German-American relations, ”said Johannes Thimm, senior researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, a think tank in Berlin.
After 16 years of dealing with Merkel, many officials in Washington and elsewhere are wondering what direction Germany might take after the next election. The longtime chancellor – who has dealt with four US presidents in her time – will seek to reassure them that there won’t be a huge change, Thimm said.
Merkel’s party leads the polls ahead of the September 26 election in Germany, but Green environmentalists and center-left Social Democrats are also vying to lead a future government. Although the three parties differ in many policy areas, all are committed to a strong transatlantic relationship.
A sour note that preceded and survived the Trump era of diplomatic discord with Washington was the thorny issue of a new pipeline bringing natural gas from Russia to Germany.
The United States has long maintained that the Nord Stream 2 project will threaten European energy security by increasing the continent’s dependence on Russian gas and allowing Russia to exert political pressure on vulnerable countries in the world. Eastern and Central Europe. But Biden recently waived impending sanctions against German entities involved in the project, a move that angered many Democratic and Republican lawmakers.
Biden is expected to raise concerns about the pipeline project when the two leaders speak privately, but the White House did not expect any sort of official announcement following the leaders’ interview, senior says. administration official Biden who informed reporters in advance. of the chancellor’s visit.
Merkel has sought this week to tone down expectations of an impending breakthrough, but she will probably want to resolve the issue before she leaves office. “It weighs on German-American relations and German-European relations,” Thimm said.
While German officials have been unusually shy about what will be discussed during the trip, Merkel’s spokesman confirmed on Wednesday that China will be mentioned.
“This can be said with relative certainty,” Steffen Seibert told reporters. “It also played an important role during the G-7 summit., where the Chancellor and the US President last met.
Germany has close trade ties with China, but has also criticized Beijing’s human rights record. Merkel is keen to avoid a situation in which Germany, or the European Union, might be forced to choose sides between China and the United States.
Merkel insisted on the need to cooperate with China on global issues such as tackling climate change and tackling the coronavirus pandemic, even as Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump accused Beijing of triggering it .
The humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders urged Biden on Wednesday to lean on Merkel to drop her opposition to proposals to suspend vaccine patents. Merkel, a scientist by training, argued that the lifting of patents would not be effective and could harm future research and development efforts.
Ahead of his visit, a group of Democratic lawmakers this week called on Germany to lift its “blockade” of a COVID-19-related intellectual property rights waiver under global trade rules. Such a waiver, according to lawmakers, would help increase production of effective vaccines around the world.
The Biden administration has expressed support for the waiver being discussed at the World Trade Organization, but White House officials do not expect the differences to be resolved during Merkel’s visit.
And while there are points of tension, Biden seems eager to say goodbye to Merkel. Harris will host Merkel for a working breakfast at her residence on the grounds of the US Naval Observatory. After afternoon meetings with Biden and his team at the White House and a joint press conference, the president plans to host a small dinner in honor of Merkel and her husband, chemist Joachim Sauer.
Merkel will also receive an honorary doctorate, her 18th, from Johns Hopkins University and is expected to speak at the university’s School of Advanced International Studies.
Merkel’s trip may not be her last, either. The 66-year-old said that growing up in East Germany, she dreamed of being able to travel to America upon retirement, as the Communist bloc tended to ease some of the restrictions on its citizens.
So far, Merkel has not announced any plans for her time after office.
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Jordans reported from Berlin.
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