Berlin, May 31 (AP) German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will travel to Washington next week to meet US President Donald Trump, with the war in Ukraine and trade tensions among the items on the agenda, the German government said Saturday.

Merz's office said the new German leader, who took the helm of Europe's biggest economy on May 6, will meet Trump at the White House on Thursday — the first in-person meeting between the two.

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It said that the meeting will address bilateral relations and international issues such as Russia's war in Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East and trade policy.

Merz has plunged into diplomatic efforts to try to secure a ceasefire and keep Western support for Ukraine intact since becoming Germany's leader. On Wednesday, he hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Berlin.

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Germany has a strong interest in defusing trade tensions between the European Union and the United States. Trump threatened to impose a 50 per cent tariff on goods imported from the 27-nation bloc starting Sunday, but then pushed back the deadline to July 9. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)