WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo flew Thursday to Germany to make up a visit he canceled at the last minute in early May to the close ally, which has rocky relations with President Donald Trump.
Germany will be the first stop in a four-nation tour of Europe in which Pompeo will also visit Switzerland and the Netherlands before joining Trump on his state visit to Britain.
In Berlin on Friday, Pompeo is scheduled to meet German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and Chancellor Angela Merkel after he abruptly postponed talks with them on May 7.
Pompeo, on his previous tour of Europe, took a major detour to visit Iraq and discuss security as tensions rose sharply between the United States and Iran.
Trump has repeatedly clashed with Merkel, taking her to task for Germany’s welcome to migrants, in open criticism that would have barely been imaginable from a US president before the real estate mogul’s surprise 2016 election.
“We’re very pleased that we were able to find a time still in the month of May that worked for both the American and German side,” a US official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
The official said it was a “very important year” in light of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany as well as the Berlin airlift.
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