A wide selection of media outlets, such as Le Soir, the Financial Times and Le Monde comment on President Macron and Chancellor Merkel’s visits to Washington to meet with President Trump. Friendly gestures prevailed between French President Macron and US President Donald Trump, whereas the atmosphere with German Chancellor Merkel is likely to be entirely different during her visit to the US, report several Austrian media outlets.
Among other issues, Chancellor Merkel will talk about the nuclear deal with Iran. Concerning the nuclear agreement, the EU institutions have deliberately left the field to people like President Macron and Chancellor Merkel, partly because they know that President Trump does not support multilateral institutions.
The tariffs that could be imposed on steel and aluminium from the EU on May 1 are another important topic. Unlike the German government, the Commission continues to expect that the exemption from US tariffs will be extended. According to Salzburger Nachrichten, Commission President Juncker has announced counter-measures in the event that the EU will not be granted a permanent exemption.
President Macron did not accomplish his goals in his visit to the US, Público reports. President Macron failed to get a clear response from US President Trump about the nuclear agreement with Iran. In his speech to the US Congress, President Macron vehemently defended multilateralism and considered that the consequences of ending the agreement with Iran without an alternative would be very serious. President Macron described the US incoherent policy on international agreements as “insane” and pointed out that such frequent changes in the US position on global issues could “work in the short term” but was “very insane in the medium to long term”.
The New York Times described President Macron’s speech as very critical and as an unequivocal rebuke of President Trump’s “America first” agenda, Darik Radio reports. President Macron also criticised extreme nationalism for putting global prosperity at risk, Nova Television adds. The Latvian media reports that President Macron’s appeals to rethink an immediate exit of US troops from Syria were more successful than his calls to preserve the Iran nuclear deal.
Following President Macron’s visit to Washington, Chancellor Merkel will now also meet with President Trump. In Bild, Ralf Schuler says that is the Iran nuclear deal is terminated, Tehran would immediately resume uranium enrichment to build bombs. This would be the horror for the neighbouring countries in the region, for Israel and Europe, the author emphasises. Chancellor Merkel will try to dissuade President Trump from his intention.
Eric Bonse comments in Tageszeitung on the visits of President Macron and Chancellor Merkel to the US. The problem is that the European leaders are pursuing different interests in Washington, according to the author. While President Macron focuses on the US’s external policy and the deal with Iran, Chancellor Merkel gives priority to US trade policy.
In De Tijd, Jean Vanempten comments that style differences matter less than the common European message President Macron and Chancellor Merkel deliver on Iran and the pending trade issues with the US. At least the joint intervention in Syria a few weeks ago proves that President Trump is willing to consult with President Macron.
Commenting in the Financial Times, Philip Stephens notes the differences between the two leaders as they meet today. He writes that President Trump has “disowned” the Paris climate change accord and may decide to abandon the nuclear deal with Iran, while Chancellor Merkel is the “devoted multilateralist and guardian of the liberal international order“.
In an editorial published by Evenimentul Zilei daily, Iulian Chifu says that President Macron and Chancellor Merkel’s visits to the USA represent a real European offensive meant to calm things and appease bilateral tensions. In the author’s opinion, the US and the EU are playing a “good cop/bad cop” game. Chancellor Merkel’s visit to the USA will be decisive, because ambiguity has been the defining feature of President Macron’s visit to the USA.
The “tariff war” between the EU and US is about the global redistribution of economic power, Andreas Lieb explains in a commentary in Kleine Zeitung. To be able to counter the US, Russia and China, Europe desperately needs new strength through agreements, but it suffers from the handicap that it has to go through lengthy processes before it can show unity. In reality, President Macron and Chancellor Merkel are both going to President Trump —“but each for himself” according to Mr Lieb.
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