Joe Biden has already been on German soil as US President, but not for a proper bilateral visit. He now wants to make up for that – shortly before he says goodbye to the White House.
US President Joe Biden is travelling to Germany in mid-October. The White House announced that the 81-year-old is planning a multi-day visit to Germany starting on October 10. The US President will meet with leading German politicians in Germany “to further strengthen the close ties between the United States and Germany as allies and friends and to coordinate on common priorities.” He also intends to express his appreciation to Germany for its support of Ukraine, which has been attacked by Russia.
The government headquarters in Washington did not provide any further details about the trip. There were no official statements about where the US President would travel – nor who he specifically wanted to meet in Germany.
According to information from “Spiegel”, the German government is also planning to invite French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to Germany while Biden is in the country. Biden is also said to be planning a visit to the US military base in Ramstein. “Tagesspiegel” had previously reported that Biden wanted to travel to Berlin for three days. The Berlin police are already clarifying special shift and service arrangements for this.
It would be Biden’s first bilateral visit to Germany in his four-year term in office and the first visit by a US president to Berlin since Barack Obama visited then-Prime Minister Angela Merkel (CDU) in the Chancellery on his farewell tour in November 2016.
According to the White House, Biden also wants to use his visit to reaffirm the US and Germany’s commitment to democracy and the fight against anti-Semitism and hatred. Germany contributes to the security of the United States and the entire NATO alliance, it said.
Although Biden attended the G7 summit in Elmau in 2022 and on another occasion made a refueling stop with his government plane at the military base in Ramstein, there has not been a regular bilateral visit so far.
The 81-year-old will leave office in January. In July, under great pressure from his own party, he withdrew from the campaign for a second term and left the field to his deputy, Kamala Harris. The reason for this was great concerns within the party about his age and mental state.
Before he dropped out of the presidential race, Biden had reduced his foreign travel to a minimum because of the election campaign. But now he has more time for his official duties – and is working on his political legacy in the remaining months before he leaves the White House.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz traveled to the US capital several times during Biden’s presidency – but always for working visits and not for a state visit accompanied by special protocol pomp.
Following his visit to Germany, Biden plans to travel to Angola. The White House says Biden will visit the country from October 13 to 15. Biden had long promised a trip to the African continent, but kept postponing it. Several members of Biden’s cabinet had previously visited various countries on the African continent.
