"Of course, the Chancellor has to talk to the American President regularly," said Merz. "But if he is obviously traveling to Washington at short notice, then the question must be allowed as to what purpose this serves," added the CDU leader. "A personal encounter must have a special reason. I don't know it."

The CDU leader expressed the suspicion that there might be "a problem to be solved" during the trip - namely with the delivery of battle tanks to Ukraine. "Because the Federal Chancellor declared a few weeks ago that he had now reached an agreement whereby the American government would also supply its own battle tanks to Ukraine. Now we have learned from the American President's security advisor in a television interview that this is not the case for the time being ."

The Chancellor will be received by Biden in the White House on Friday. According to a US government official, the conversation will last about an hour. The central topic will be the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and further support for Kiev.