The Chancellor is traveling to Washington for the third time in his term in office. In addition to a conversation with US President Biden, Scholz wants to meet high-ranking congressional representatives and entrepreneurs. What does he want to achieve on the short visit?
When Olaf Scholz talks about Joe Biden, you always hear a lot of sympathy. They call Biden “Middle Class Joe.” A man also for the working class. The Social Democrat Scholz already had respect for this when he traveled to Washington as the newly elected Chancellor for his inaugural visit a few days before the start of the Ukraine war at the beginning of February 2022.
Now, two years later, Olaf Scholz will sit opposite his “good friend” Biden in the Oval Office for the third time. And in the Chancellery they are worriedly wondering behind closed doors whether it could also be the last time.
There are elections in the USA in November. And even if the Chancellor is reluctant to say the name Donald Trump – they in the Chancellery are also preparing to possibly have to deal with an erratic and difficult to predict President Trump a second time.
“It is now all the more important to get this Biden government to dry ground in the remaining months, whatever is possible, before an election comes up where no one knows how it will turn out,” says the Federal Government’s Transatlantic Coordinator, the FDP. Politician Michael Link, dem ARD capital studio.
Scholz travels to the White House with some pride
In any case, the Chancellor makes it a point not to take any action on foreign and, above all, security policy without speaking to Biden first. Every new German arms delivery to Ukraine, from the “Patriot” or “Iris-T” to the “Leopard” main battle tank – everything is always done in close consultation with the US President.
Will the much-discussed “Taurus” cruise missiles from Germany, which Ukraine is hoping for, be an issue during this visit? In the Chancellery they are silent about it.
Michael Roth, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said in an interview with ARD capital studio the incumbent US president a stroke of luck. However, he fears that Biden is more of an exception to the rule, since Biden, as a convinced transatlanticist, has always supported Europe. But now things are complicated.
Scholz travels to the White House with some pride. His people have just calculated that Germany has already delivered or at least promised almost 30 billion euros in aid for Ukraine since the start of the war. Germany is mathematically the number two supporter of Ukraine after the USA.
Not a celebratory banquet
In Washington, of all places, Republicans are now blocking further US financial aid. $60 billion for Ukraine is on hold. “I very much hope that the USA and Congress will soon make a decision to make the necessary help possible,” says Scholz. But in the Chancellery they also know that German influence on this is very limited.
But if the USA fails, Europe and especially the Chancellor will have the mammoth task of supporting Ukraine alone. Scholz will explain to Biden in a one-on-one meeting how difficult this is likely to be given the current German budget situation.
Incidentally, it was the US President who suggested this third meeting. Some things, the White House said, could be better clarified in direct conversation. The two will probably sit together for 70 to 80 minutes on Friday. And because, like the last time in March of last year, it is purely a working visit, there will be no “big train station” for the Chancellor. Not nice pictures. No joint press conference either.
That Scholz, unlike French President Emmanuel Macron, for example, has not yet been invited to a state visit to Washington? No problem, they say in the Chancellor’s circle. Scholz isn’t someone who needs a celebratory banquet with military honors anyway.
Dinner with Congressional representatives
After his arrival, the Chancellor will meet high-ranking representatives from Congress for dinner. Among other things, it’s about seeing what’s still going on when it comes to aid to Ukraine and where Congress stands on the issue of Israel. And it’s probably also about generally feeling the temperature of what makes these Trump Republicans actually tick.
Breakfast with entrepreneurs
In the morning, Scholz is a traveling salesman for Germany as a business location. The Chancellor invited a dozen CEOs of US companies to breakfast. His message: “Germany is open for business.”
Scholz wants to promote investments. The deal that has just been agreed with Intel to build a chip factory in Saxony-Anhalt, which the federal government is subsidizing with ten billion euros of state money, is likely to be one of the Chancellor’s location arguments.
In the evening German time, Scholz sits in the Oval Office. The war in Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East, the further development of NATO: just three of the keywords on the Chancellor’s list of topics. Scholz will probably also want to know from Biden why the US President has stopped the construction of new liquid gas terminals on US coasts for the time being – now of all times, when Germany is relying on US liquid gas.
No meeting with Trump
A meeting with the possible presidential candidate and nightmare from Merkel’s era, the Republican Donald Trump, is explicitly not planned. Why should it be so, says those close to the Chancellor. The man currently has no official position. In any case, Scholz is probably secretly hoping that things will stay the same after November.
The Chancellor will not be in Washington for a total of 24 hours. By the way, his arrival and departure is rather complicated. Because there is no A 350 long-haul aircraft available to the Bundeswehr, the delegation has to travel with a smaller A 321 aircraft today and therefore have to make a stopover. On the way there was a fuel stop in Iceland and on the way back in Newfoundland, Canada.
The Federal President uses the airworthy A 350 from the aviation service on a state visit to Mongolia. And Frank-Walter Steinmeier always has first right of access when it comes to flight-ready machines.
Georg Schwarte, ARD Berlin, tagesschau, February 8, 2024 8:21 a.m