The French President will be in DC from 23-25 April while Merkel's visit is planned to take place a few days later beginning on the 27th. France has grown a lot closer to the US over the past year as a result of several factors. The first one is that the US' "special relationship" with the UK isn't as strong as it used to be as London turns inward after Brexit and some leading British politicians have turned Trump into a bogeyman. Concurrent with this, US-German ties have frayed because of the ideological differences between the two countries and the Trump Administration's policy of wanting to renegotiate trade deals.
By being the most enthusiastic supporter of the US-led strikes on Syria last weekend and even one of its willing participants, France has evidently done its utmost to position itself as the US' top ally in Europe.
This contrasts with Germany, which as was mentioned, is caught in a row with the US over ideological and economic issues. Berlin is still the EU's leading economy and accordingly its most important continental power, but Paris is attempting to upstage it on the world arena given the sphere of influence that France has in its formal colonial regions of Africa and the Mideast and its political willingness to militarily act there in alignment with American interests. That said, France can't compete with Germany on the European "home front", which is why it's crucial for the US to maintain cordial relations with Berlin, even amidst the present disagreements between the two Great Powers. Given this dynamic, France can somewhat be described as Germany's "junior partner" in the EU even if the relationship is reversed abroad.
Despite their "friendly competition" with one another in general and specifically when it comes to their ties with the US, Germany and France still need one another and might take similar stances on certain issues during their leaders' separate meetings with Trump. However, what's more probable is that the US will approach France from a geopolitical angle given its shared interests with the country in Africa and especially nowadays the Mideast, while its interactions with Germany might be centered more on economic issues such as trade.
Lawrence Desforges, French independent journalist who runs his own website Global Relay Network, and Michael Schäfer, journalist and novelist from Germany, former 20-year-long member of the SPD and actual member of DIE LINKE (the Left) party.
Want to sound off and share what you think about this? Send us an email at radio@sputniknews.com or find us on Facebook!
