WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Thursday that it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia "fight for a while" before pulling them apart and pursuing peace, even as Germany's new chancellor appealed to him as the "key person in the world" who could halt the bloodshed by pressuring Vladimir Putin.
In an Oval Office meeting with Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the U.S. president likened the war in Ukraine — which Russia invaded in February 2022 — to a fight between two children who hate each other. Trump said that with children, "sometimes you're better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart," adding that he relayed the analogy to Putin in a call this week.
"I said, 'President, maybe you're going to have to keep fighting and suffering a lot,' because both sides are suffering before you pull them apart, before they're able to be pulled apart," Trump said. "You see in hockey, you see it in sports. The referees let them go for a couple of seconds, let them go for a little while before you pull them apart."
The comments were a remarkable detour from Trump's often-stated appeals to stop the violence in Ukraine — and he again denounced the bloodshed Thursday even as he floated the possibility that the two countries should continue the war for a time. Merz carefully sidestepped Trump's assertions and emphasized that the U.S. and Germany both agree on "how terrible this war is," while making sure to lay blame squarely on Putin for the violence and make the point that Germany was siding with Ukraine.
"We are both looking for ways to stop it very soon," Merz said in the Oval Office. "I told the president before we came in that he is the key person in the world who can really do that now by putting pressure on Russia."
Thursday's meeting was the first time the two leaders sat down in person, and Merz left the public portion unscathed as he successfully avoided the kind of made-for-TV confrontation in the Oval Office that befell other world leaders such as Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of South Africa. Trump and Merz began by exchanging pleasantries — Merz gave Trump a gold-framed birth certificate of the U.S. president's grandfather Friedrich Trump, who emigrated to America from Kallstadt, Germany, and Trump called the chancellor a "very good man to deal with."
"He's difficult, I would say? Can I say that? It's a positive. You wouldn't want me to say you're easy, right?" Trump said, gently ribbing Merz. "He's a very great representative of Germany."
Merz told German reporters after the White House meeting that he had invited Trump to visit Germany, "his home country," and added that the two leaders "get along well on the personal level."
Trump and Merz had previously spoken several times by phone since Merz took office on May 6. German officials say the two leaders have started to build a "decent" relationship. Merz avoided the antagonism that defined Trump's relationship with one of his predecessors, Angela Merkel, in the Republican president's first term.
Merz emphasizes Ukraine support
The 69-year-old Merz — who came to office with an extensive business background — is a conservative former rival of Merkel's who took over her party after she retired from politics.
Merz has thrown himself into diplomacy on Ukraine, traveling to Kyiv with fellow European leaders days after taking office and receiving Zelenskyy in Berlin last week. He has thanked Trump for his support for an unconditional ceasefire while rejecting the idea of "dictated peace" or the "subjugation" of Ukraine and advocating for more sanctions against Russia.
On Thursday, Trump also kept the threat of sanctions on the table — but for both Russia and Ukraine. He said he has not looked at bipartisan Senate legislation that would impose harsh economic punishments on Moscow, but said of sanctions efforts that "they would be guided by me," rather than Capitol Hill.
"When I see the moment where it's not going to stop ... we'll be very, very tough," Trump said. "And it could be on both countries, to be honest. It takes two to tango."
For Merz's part, he used Friday's anniversary of D-Day — when Allied forces launched an assault that began the liberation of Europe from German occupation — to appeal to Trump to help lead the ending of another violent war on the continent.
Merz noted that June 6, 1944, began the liberation of Germany from a Nazi dictator and that "American is again in a very strong position to so something on this war and ending this war."
"That was not a pleasant day for you?" Trump interjected to the German leader when he referenced D-Day.
At home, Merz's government is intensifying a drive that his immediate predecessor, Olaf Scholz, began to bolster the German military after Russia invaded Ukraine. In Trump's first term, Berlin was a target of his ire for failing to meet the current NATO target of spending 2% of gross domestic product on defense, and Trump is now demanding at least 5% from allies.
Ahead of Thursday's meeting, a White House official said the administration planned to stress to Germany that it should increase its defense spending and that the upcoming NATO summit in The Netherlands was a good opportunity to commit to Trump's 5% pledge. But during an exchange with reporters, Trump praised Berlin: "I know that you're spending more money on defense now and quite a bit more money. That's a positive thing."
Scholz set up a 100 billion euro ($115 billion) special fund to modernize Germany's armed forces — called the Bundeswehr — which had suffered from years of neglect. Germany has met the 2% target thanks to the fund, but it will be used up in 2027. Merz has endorsed a plan for all allies to aim to spend 3.5% of GDP on their defense budgets by 2032, plus an extra 1.5% on potentially defense-related things like infrastructure.
Tariff trouble
Another top priority for Merz is to get Germany's economy, Europe's biggest, moving again after it shrank the past two years. He wants to make it a "locomotive of growth," but Trump's tariff threats are a potential obstacle for a country whose exports have been a key strength. At present, the economy is forecast to stagnate in 2025.
Germany exported $160 billion worth of goods to the U.S. last year, according to the Census Bureau. That was about $85 billion more than what the U.S. sent to Germany, a trade deficit that Trump wants to erase.
"Germany is one of the very big investors in America," Merz told German reporters Thursday morning ahead of his visit with Trump. "Only a few countries invest more than Germany in the USA. We are in third place in terms of foreign direct investment."
The U.S. president has specifically gone after the German auto sector, which includes major brands such as Audi, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Porsche and Volkswagen. Americans bought $36 billion worth of cars, trucks and auto parts from Germany last year, while the Germans purchased $10.2 billion worth of vehicles and parts from the U.S. Trump's 25% tariff on autos and parts is specifically designed to increase the cost of German-made automobiles.
There's only so much Merz can achieve on his view that tariffs "benefit no one and damage everyone" while in Washington, as trade negotiations are a matter for the European Union's executive commission. Trump hinted at that Thursday, saying the trade situation will mostly depend on the negotiations with the 27-country bloc.
"We'll end up hopefully with a trade deal," Trump said. "Or we'll do something. We'll do the tariffs."
Trump recently delayed a planned 50% tariff on goods coming from the European Union, which would have otherwise gone into effect this month.
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