Scholz trip to Washington: more trusting than ever?

The Chancellor is expected in the White House today – without the press in tow, the partners are emphatically familiar. However, there have recently been different views on the subject of arms deliveries.

Olaf Scholz’s outfit initially provided a topic of conversation. On the way to his first visit to Washington a good year ago, he wore jeans with a gray sweater on the government plane – and had his picture taken during a background discussion with the media. This time the chancellor has no journalists with him, nor is a press conference planned. Scholz wants to concentrate entirely on his conversation with US President Joe Biden.

In his government statement on Thursday, the Chancellor summed up: “A year of turning point, that also means a year of transatlantic partnership – closer and more trusting than ever.” Close coordination with the allies in support of Ukraine – this basic principle must not go unmentioned in any Chancellor’s speech. And the most important ally is the USA.

A more trusting partnership than ever? The CDU foreign politician Johann Wadephul came to a completely different conclusion. In conversation with the ARD Capital Studio he says: “Relations with the USA are severely disrupted”. Wadephul refers to an event about which accounts differ widely. It’s about the delivery of main battle tanks to Ukraine.

Without “Abrams” no “Leopards”?

What exactly happened during the negotiations between Berlin and Washington, between Scholz and Biden? In a telephone conversation with the US President, did the Federal Chancellor make the delivery of “Leopard 2” conditional on the USA sending “Abrams” tanks – knowing that the American government actually doesn’t think this makes sense? Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit denies this. There was no such link.

However, that doesn’t quite fit a TV interview with national security adviser Jake Sullivan. The Germans would have made it clear: without “Abrams” there would be no “Leopards”. In the interests of “alliance unity” and “to ensure that Ukraine gets what it wants,” Biden agreed. Unusually frank words.

CDU man Wadephul criticized: Scholz did the opposite of what the United States would expect, namely “that the Europeans assume greater responsibility for ensuring European security.” According to Wadephul, the only luck for Scholz – and thus for Germany – is “that Joe Biden gives top priority to transatlantic unity and is therefore prepared to take extraordinary steps”.

Potential trade conflict

From the federal government’s point of view, there is no question that a lot has changed for the better since predecessor Donald Trump left the White House and Biden moved in. Scholz respects Biden. And at the G7 summit in Elmau last year, the US President praised the host on the open world stage in the highest tones.

In addition to support for Ukraine, another topic could take up space in the one-on-one talks. In Germany, throughout the EU, the “Inflation Reduction Act” is causing debate. The US anti-inflation program plans to invest billions in climate protection. However, subsidies and tax credits are linked to companies using US products or producing them themselves in the USA.

German industry demands improvements. “Both sides should definitely ensure that there is no trade conflict,” says Siegfried Russwurm, President of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), speaking of a “test for transatlantic relations.” However, the BDI also sees the US package as a model for the EU, a pragmatic approach to promoting climate-friendly technologies quickly and unbureaucratically.

What is the Inflation Reduction Act?

The United States’ “Inflation Reduction Act” is a $370 billion aid program that aims, among other things, to strengthen renewable energies and industry in the fight against climate change. It is the United States’ largest subsidy package to date to combat global warming.

To receive funds from the bailout, companies must invest and manufacture in the United States. The EU reacted with alarm: The European Union fears that European companies could also relocate their production overseas to benefit from the subsidies.

“Sometimes talk directly to each other”

With the “Inflation Reduction Act”, the USA would underline that economy and climate protection are “two sides of the same coin”, says the Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economics, Franziska Brantner ARD Capital Studio: “That’s good, but we should build green and resilient value chains together and not against each other”. This can be understood as a message to both sides of the Atlantic – on the one hand to the USA to refrain from going it alone, on the other hand to the EU to become active itself.

So there shouldn’t be a lack of topics to talk about in Washington. Of course, the Chancellor could have picked up the phone instead of the government plane. Scholz will be asked on Thursday in Berlin which decisions are so important that it has to be a one-to-one conversation. There is an intensive and regular exchange, the Chancellor replies. But: “We want to talk to each other directly from time to time – as it should be in a good life.”