By Sarah Marsh, Andrea Shalal and Andreas Rinke

BERLIN/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Germany’s new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, will hold his first face-to-face talks with U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday in a high stakes meeting in the Oval Office as Europe seeks to stave off looming U.S. tariffs and sustain U.S. backing for Ukraine.

The 69-year-old conservative, who took the helm of Europe’s largest economy last month, is scheduled to join Trump for lunch and one-on-one talks that analysts say could set the tone for U.S.-German ties for years to come.

Germany’s export-oriented economy stands more to lose from U.S. tariffs than others and the country is also the second largest military and financial backer of Ukraine in its defence against Russia’s invasion, after the United States.

The

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