Trump says it may be better to let Ukraine, Russia 'fight for a while'
as Merz blames Putin for war
[June 06, 2025]
By SEUNG MIN KIM, KIRSTEN GRIESHABER and GEIR MOULSON
WASHINGTON (AP) — 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.
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President Donald Trump, left, greets Germany's Chancellor Friedrich
Merz upon his arrival at the White House, Thursday, June 5, 2025, in
Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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.
___
Moulson reported from Berlin. Associated Press writer Josh Boak in
Washington contributed to this report.
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