Merz chats about conversation with Trump and reveals details

Friedrich Merz had his first phone call to Donald Trump shortly after his inauguration in early May. It probably went quite well, you could almost say: friendly. In the end, the two heads of state invited each other to the USA and Germany. If it weren’t for Merz ‘first phone call as a chancellor with Trump, it would have been ignored due to the lack of excitement.

Merz ‘first conversation as a chancellor was not the last one with the US president. He spoke to the man in the White House several times this month. At the Digital Conference Republica in Berlin, the moderators from the WDR News 0630 Friedrich Merz have now elicited a few amusing details. For example, the word “Great”, for example, says it happens very often – “every second or third word”.

You have to coordinate well with group calls, but a phone call alone with Trump? “This is a small talk,” said the Chancellor on the podium in Berlin. However, an important rule of thumb must be observed in all phone calls with Trump. The US president should never steal the show: “It is always important that you don’t talk for too long, but that you talk briefly and let him talk,” emphasized Merz.

Donald Trump likes to bathe in the spotlight. He talks about himself and his presidency, then only in superlatives. The US President has proven his self-concentricity sufficiently. And that doesn’t seem to be different in the phone calls. There it is “a lot” about him, Friedrich Merz confirmed when asked by the moderators.

In order to properly place your own topics and political worries, heads of state apparently need a good ear. “It always depends on whether you have the right slot where he lists,” said Merz and further “You have to adjust to him and get involved.”

This is exactly what seems to be a wire rope act: between submissiveness and rejection. The Chancellor warned that one should not make themselves small. “This is my most important prerequisite anyway that we can talk reasonably with him. We are not a supplicant,” he emphasized with a view to the European partners. The EU is an important market for the United States with millions of consumers. This applies especially to the tech industry, says Merz and advised: “With a good level of self-confidence, we should go into these conversations without overdating it.”