A few months before the end of his term in office, US President Joe Biden is expected to make a three-day visit to Germany from October 10th. Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit confirmed corresponding information from Washington on Wednesday, but did not give any details. As reported in Berlin, visits to the capital and possibly to the US military base in Ramstein are planned. The White House said that Biden’s talks with his partners in Germany should focus on the issues of Ukraine and NATO.
“I can confirm that the US President will be visiting Germany from October 10th to October 12th,” said Hebestreit in Berlin. He cannot yet provide any details. The White House had previously said that Biden would travel from Germany to Angola, where he will stay from October 13th to 15th.
It is Biden’s last visit to Germany as the incumbent US President. During his term in office, the 81-year-old revived the transatlantic partnership, which his predecessor Donald Trump had damaged through numerous political maneuvers. The Republican Trump is running again for the White House in this year’s presidential election on November 5th.
Biden is visiting Germany to “further strengthen the close ties of the United States and Germany as allies and friends,” said White House spokeswoman Karin Jean-Pierre. The US President will thank the important NATO partner for “supporting Ukraine against Russian aggression” and for hosting US soldiers who have been stationed in the country for decades.
Vice President Kamala Harris will run for the Democrats on November 5th. She and Trump are neck and neck in the polls. Biden originally held his party’s nomination. However, after a disastrous appearance in a TV duel with Trump at the end of June, massive doubts were raised about his physical and mental fitness, so he gave up his candidacy on July 21st.
During his term in office (2017-2021), Trump repeatedly accused Germany of spending too little on its defense and also took a tough stance against its allies in Europe in trade policy with punitive tariffs. The US government under Biden, on the other hand, sees Germany as a key state for NATO defense in Eastern Europe, especially since the Russian attack on Ukraine in February 2022.
