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Trump Participates in a Bilateral Meeting with Chancellor Merz of Germany, Mar. 3, 2026

March 3, 2026 · The White House · 0:37:19

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

President Donald Trump hosted Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany in the Oval Office on March 3, 2026 — Merz’s third visit to the Oval Office, as the Chancellor noted, after spending the night at the White House guest house. Merz set the agenda as he stated it: “We are on the same page in terms of getting this terrible regime in Tehran away, and we will talk about the day after,” plus a trade agreement he wanted “in place as soon as possible,” and Ukraine, where Ukraine “has to preserve its territory and their security interests.”

Asked whether Israel had forced his hand into the Iran strikes, the President reversed the premise: “No, I might have forced their hand.” Based on the negotiations, he said, “I felt strongly” that Iran was going to attack first — “and I didn’t want that to happen.” He put the regime’s toll on its own people, as he stated it, at 35,000 protesters violently killed over the preceding weeks, and said 49 people were taken out in the first hit, with people now coming forward asking for immunity. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer joined the tariff exchange, in which the President described the recent Supreme Court decision as reaffirming a menu of tariff authorities — including, by his reading, a licensing power under which he could “stop everything having to do with Spain,” an option he said the administration might use.

On Russia and Ukraine, the President said ending the war was “very high” on his priority list, put recent deaths at 25,000 to 30,000 soldiers a month — 32,000 over the last four weeks, as he stated it — and blamed the impasse on “tremendous hatred” between Presidents Putin and Zelenskyy, while saying he believed a settlement would happen. Merz closed by reaffirming German support for the United States and Israel and the need for a common strategy for “the day after” in the region.

Why it matters

The Merz meeting is the first allied-leader session of the war at the White House, and it carries the President’s own account of who moved first against Iran, a dated trade-agreement ask from Berlin, and the tariff-authority reading he has acted on since. It is recorded on the Foreign Policy & Defense hub.

Scoreboard watch

The statements recorded here for the weekly scoreboard: the President’s “I might have forced their hand” account of the strikes’ initiation, the immunity requests he described, and the Spain embargo option he said the Supreme Court decision leaves open, all as stated at the meeting. The scoreboard entry itself remains review-gated.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Participates in a Bilateral Meeting, Mar. 3, 2026,” The White House, March 3, 2026 (official upload, embedded above). All figures and characterizations as stated by President Trump, Chancellor Merz, and Trade Representative Greer at the meeting.