Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

Image source, Reuters

Just a few minutes ago, we saw Merz present Trump with the birth certificate of his grandfather.

But just who was Friedrich Trump?

We know that Trump's grandfather in 1869, in the Bavarian town of Karllstadt, which was then part of the Kingdom of Bavaria.

He emigrated to the US in 1885 - reportedly to avoid mandatory military service - and settled at first in New York, which at the time was seeing a large influx of German immigrants.

A few years later, he headed west during the Klondike Gold Rush to Canada's Yukon Territory, running restaurants and hotels that catered to gold miners.

He later returned to in 1901, but was expelled and returned to the US with his then now-wife, Elisabeth Christ.

There, he began setting up the real estate empire that made the family famous and which later expanded by his son Fred - the president's father.

Friedrich Trump died in 1918 during the Spanish Flu pandemic. Fred was three years old.

Image source, EPA

Even before Trump's Oval Office meeting with Merz had concluded, Elon Musk had responded to criticism from the White House.

Trump had said Musk was against his "Big Beautiful Bill" because of its plans to do away with tax credits for electric vehicles. As a reminder, Musk is the CEO of electric vehicle maker Tesla.

On X, Musk said: "Whatever. Keep the EV/solar incentive cuts in the bill, even though no oil & gas subsidies are touched (very unfair!!), but ditch the MOUNTAIN of DISGUSTING PORK in the bill.

"Either you get a big and ugly bill or a slim and beautiful bill."

In a separate post, Musk disputed Trump's claim that Musk knew the details of bill as as such was surprised by his public opposition to it.

"False, this bill was never shown to me even once and was ed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it!" he wrote.

Merz escapes the Oval Office 'ambush'published at 17:46 British Summer Time 5 June

17:46 BST 5 June

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

Image source, Reuters

We've just wrapped up the open portion of the Oval Office meeting between Trump and Merz - who escaped the now-infamous Oval Office "ambushes" that were faced by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Ukraine's Volodomyr Zelensky.

Ahead of the meeting, some observers had predicted that Trump or his cabinet - particularly JD Vance and Marco Rubio - would bring up concerns about the "firewall" that keeps 's far-right AfD from power.

Some in Trump's orbit had also expressed concern about freedom of speech in .

But today, none of that was evident. Vance and Rubio both sat quietly on the sofa and the issue did not come up.

That's a best case scenario for the Merz and the German delegation, who handled the meeting diplomatically, but firmly.

Merz, in particular, noted that he and Trump both want to see the war in Ukraine end, even if there are differences in approach and assessment.

Merz is now asked whether he agrees with the analogy Trump just used to describe the Russia-Ukraine war.

Moments ago, Trump said he told Russian President Vladimir Putin the was was like two children fighting in a park, adding: "Sometimes you're better off letting them fight for a while".

In response, Merz says the leaders agree on "how terrible" the war is and they are "both looking for ways to stop it very soon".

He says he told Trump that he is the "key person in the world" that can enable the end of the war, by putting further pressure on Russia.

"We are on the side of Ukraine" Merz says before adding that Ukraine is "only targeting military targets, not civilians".

Trump says his interest in ending the war in Ukraine is not about money but about saving lives and Ukrainian culture.

"You have lost a whole culture," he said. "They have taken away the culture of a country, the heritage of a country," he says referring to Ukrainian architecture that have been destroyed by Russian bombs.

The president is then asked if he s Senator Lindsey Graham's bill that would bring about sanctions on Russia.

Trump says he hasn't looked at it, but says: "It's a harsh bill, very harsh."

Image source, Reuters

Trump now moves on to what he describes as his decision to stop the construction of a gas pipeline between Russia and - the Nord Stream 2 project.

"I stopped it, it was dead and then they say: 'I was friends with Putin'".

At the time, critics accused the president for taking too long to impose the sanctions that would stop the project's completion and said the Trump istration was taking the decision for its own economic advantage.

Trump continues and says Biden "let it be built" referring to the decision by the previous istration to waive sanctions on the company building the pipeline., external

Trump says he had a two-hour conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, during which he says he gave his counterpart the analogy of two children fighting in a park.

"Sometimes you're better off letting them fight for a while," he says.

Trump said it was proving difficult to stop the war because there is "a lot of bad blood" between the two countries and great hatred between Putin and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Trump is asked whether he will consider further sanctions on Russia.

"When I see the moment when we're not going to make a deal, when this thing won't stop," he replies.

The president is then asked if there's a deadline. "It's in my brain," he says.

"When I see the moment it's not going to stop, we're going to be very tough. it could be on both countries. It takes two to tango," he says.

Image source, Reuters

The conversation turns to the war in Ukraine.

Trump says the war would have never happened if he were president at the time. "No chance, zero," Trump tells Merz.

He says the "amount of death in the war" is "far greater" than is being reported.

Merz assures Trump that "we are all looking for measures to bring this terrible war to an end".

He notes its the D-Day anniversary tomorrow. "This was the liberation of my country from Nazi dictatorship," he says, telling Trump "we owe you".

"America is once again in a very strong position to end this war," he adds.

He says they tly need to Ukraine and put pressure on Russia.

Trump replies: "We'll talk about it".

Musk tensions overshadow German visitpublished at 17:19 British Summer Time 5 June

17:19 BST 5 June

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

It's notable that domestic concerns and the internal workings of the White House seem to have largely overshadowed the other issues on the table.

Much of Trump's commentary has so far focused on the growing rift between him and Elon Musk, who left the White House left week after 129 days of cost-cutting work with the Department of Government Efficiency, or Doge.

Since leaving, Musk has repeatedly struck out against Trump's "big, beautiful" tax and spending bill, which he claimed on X will "bankrupt America".

The comments seem to have gotten under Trump's skin, with the president saying he's "disappointed" in Musk.

The tone is remarkably different from Trump's comments during Musk's Oval Office farewell just last week, in which he said Musk "would be with us, always" in some capacity.

We continue to hear about Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" - one of his signature policies which has stalled in Congress.

Trump says he has asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to weigh in on the Congressional Budget Office's estimates about the bill's effect on US debt.

Yesterday, the office released an estimate that the bill would add $2.4 trillion (£1.77 trillion) to the national debt over 10 years.

The bill includes huge tax breaks and higher defence spending.

Questions pivot back to domestic US issues - Trump is asked about Elon Musk's criticism of the president's "big, beautiful bill".

The president says he's always liked Musk, and was surprised to see the criticism.

Trump says the bill is incredible and a "huge tax cut", and he'd rather Musk criticise him than the bill - it's his view that Musk is upset because the istration took out the Electric Vehicle (EV) mandate.

Musk knew this from the beginning, Trump says, but he knows it "disturbed" him.

Trump also reveals that Musk recommended someone he knows to run Nasa, but Trump says he didn't think it was appropriate.

"I can understand why he's upset," Trump says.

"Elon and I had a great relationship, I don't know if we will anymore," Trump says, adding that Musk is not the first to leave his istration and "some get hostile", labelling it "Trump derangement syndrome".

Musk had a wonderful send-off, Trump says, pointing to Musk's hat that said "Trump was right about everything".

"And I am right about the great big beautiful bill," Trump tells the Oval Office.

For context: Musk posted to social media that the bill was an "abomination"

Trump says defence spending 'positive'published at 17:08 British Summer Time 5 June

17:08 BST 5 June

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

Trump was just asked about the key issue of defence spending - which some had predicted would be a point of tension between the two men.

He said that German moves to spend more on their own defence are "positive" and "good thing".

There so far continues to be no friction between the two men. This continues to be, for now, an ideal situation for the German side.

There are no signs of any impending "ambush", or really any friction between the two men - with Trump saying that the relationship will be "great" and that everything else "will fall into line".

The US president is next asked if is doing enough on defence.

Trump says is spending more money now, a move he describes as positive.

He then appears to make a WWII joke: "They said never let rearm."

Continuing, he says 's rearming is a good thing - "at least to a certain point".

"We'll be watching," he says, then clarifies to the room that he's joking.

The conversation turns to today's meeting. Trump says Merz is a "very good man" to deal with.

"All we want is a very good relationship," Trump tells reporters in the Oval Office.

He says that the Chancellor is "difficult", but jokes that Merz "wouldn't want him to say he's easy".

"We'll have a good trade deal," Trump continues.

He says that it will mostly be determined by the EU, "but you're a very big part of that," Trump tells Merz.

Trump is also asked about yesterday's travel ban, specifically why it has been brought in now and why Egypt was not on the list?

In his announcement of the ban, he cited safety following the recent attack in Colorado, for which an Egyptian national is the prime suspect.

"They have things under control" in Egypt he said, adding that the ban couldn't come soon enough.

• We're also covering the fall-out of this travel ban in a separate live page

Trump has just revealed that he has been invited to China, following a phone call with President Xi this morning.

Trump says he'll be going there with the first lady, and has returned the invitation to the Chinese president to come to the White House.

He says they had a "very good talk" where they "straightened out complexities".

Trump says a US delegation will be meeting with China's "top people".

They have a trade deal, Trump says, but have been straightening out some points.

On Chinese students, he says they can come to the US to study without problems.

"It's our honour to have them," he says, but adds that he wants them to be checked.

The German chancellor begins his remarks by thanking Donald Trump for the invitation to the White House.

He says he's "very happy to be here".

"We have very much in common," Merz says about and the US.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

Image source, Pool

The outset of the meeting has, so far, been ideal for Merz, with Trump promising a "very great" relationship with .

As was expected, Ukraine came up quickly - perhaps a sign of the focus of the meeting ahead.

Trump, who is smiling, seems to be in a polite and cordial mood.