Germany on tenterhooks for Merz’s first official meeting with Trump

Two leaders are on first-name terms after phone chats but German chancellor knows he may have to tread fine line

Germany's new conservative leader, Friedrich Merz, is due in Washington on Thursday for his first official meeting with Donald Trump, putting political Berlin on tenterhooks like no other transatlantic encounter in living memory.

Discussions between the German chancellor and the US president will focus on Ukraine, the Middle East and trade policies. How well or badly the talks go - during a small group meeting, followed by a lunch and then, perhaps most nailbitingly, a press conference in the Oval Office - may shape relations for decades to come, analysts say.