German Prime Minister Friedrich Merz, in remarks during a multilateral meeting between President Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and other European leaders, used his time to lecture President Trump about the need for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine before the next round of negotiations.
“The next steps ahead are the more complicated ones, now,” Merz told Trump. “To be honest, we all would like to see a ceasefire, the latest from the next meeting on.”
He then seemed to imply that he would not take the negotiations seriously until a ceasefire is in place.
“I can’t imagine that the next meeting would take place without a ceasefire. So, let’s work on that, and let’s try to put pressure on Russia, because the credibility of these efforts, these efforts we are undertaking today, are depending on at least a ceasefire from the beginning of the serious negotiations from the next step on.”
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni did not look amused during Merz’s monologue, looking annoyed and appearing to roll her eyes at Merz.
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After Merz’s tirade about a ceasefire, Trump responded with fire, pointing to his record to date of stopping six wars across the globe without ceasefire agreements in place.
“Well, we’re going to let the President go over and talk to the President, and we’ll see how that works out,” he initially told Merz before speaking about the peace he’s secured in decades-long wars, like the war between the Congo and Rwanda and the war between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“In the six wars that I’ve settled, I haven’t had a ceasefire. We just got into negotiations.”
In the President’s first six months, he has helped put an end to the aformentioned conflicts, as well as the India-Pakistan conflict, the Iran-Israel conflict, the Hamas-Israel war, and the Cambodia-Thailand war.
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Merz: Mr. President, Donald, many thanks for having us today. I think this is extremely helpful that we are meeting and hearing that the two of you are having such a good meeting today here in Washington. The next steps ahead are the more complicated ones, now. The path is open. You opened it last Friday, but now the way is open for complicated negotiations. And to be honest, we all would like to see a ceasefire, the latest from the next meeting on.
I can’t imagine that the next meeting would take place without a ceasefire. So, let’s work on that, and let’s try to put pressure on Russia, because the credibility of these efforts, these efforts we are undertaking today, are depending on at least a ceasefire from the beginning of the serious negotiations from the next step on. So, I would like to emphasize this aspect, and would like to see a ceasefire from the next meeting, which should be a trilateral meeting, wherever it takes place.
Trump: Well, we’re going to let the President go over and talk to the President, and we’ll see how that works out. And if we can do that, I will say and, again, I say it: In the six wars that I’ve settled, I haven’t had a ceasefire. We just got into negotiations, and one of the wars was, as you know, in the Congo, was 30 years, 31 years long. Another one that we settled last week with two great countries was 35 years going on, and we had no ceas fires. So, if we can do the ceasefire, great, and if we don’t do a ceasefire, because many other points were given to us, many, many points were given to us, great points.
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