Diplomacy: Scholz would like to visit Trump as soon as possible after he is sworn in

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) would like to travel to Washington to see him as soon as possible after US President Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20th. In his first phone call with Trump after his election victory in November, Scholz “declared his wish that he wanted to visit him very soon after taking office,” according to government circles. It is “not ruled out” that such a visit could take place before the federal election on February 23rd.

No invitation to the swearing-in

Scholz has not yet been invited to Trump’s swearing-in on January 20th. Invitations to heads of state and government of other countries to the inaugurations of US presidents have previously been unusual. According to his spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, the Republican Trump surprisingly invited China’s head of state Xi Jinping to the ceremony. Heads of state and government from other countries were also invited, she said, without giving details.

Scholz sees Trump as encouraging him to say no to Taurus

Scholz was surprisingly positive about his first phone call with Trump and made it clear that he believed a common line was possible, especially with a view to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. He sees his rejection of the Taurus cruise missiles requested by Ukraine as being reinforced by Trump’s statements.

When presenting the SPD election program, Scholz reiterated his decision to reject the supply of weapons that extend far into the Russian hinterland. “And if I see it correctly, it will also be assessed similarly in transatlantic cooperation in the future, for example. At least that’s how I read President Trump in his recent interviews,” said Scholz.

Trump called Biden’s decision “very stupid.”

Trump had previously condemned as “very stupid” incumbent President Joe Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to carry out attacks with long-range Western weapons on Russian territory. “I think this should not have been allowed (…) and especially not a few weeks before I took office,” the Republican told reporters in Florida. Biden’s decision was a “big mistake.”

Trump did not rule out reversing the decision after he takes office at the end of January. In November, the Democrat Biden authorized Kiev to attack certain targets in Russia with ATACMS missiles to counter Russia’s war of aggression. France and Great Britain had also recently relaxed restrictions on the use of their Scalp and Storm Shadow missiles supplied to Kiev.