Germany's Merkel to visit Trump, as trade, Iran deadlines loom

BERLIN – German Chancellor Angela Merkel will visit US President Donald Trump on April 27, a senior US official said on Thursday, as differences over a nuclear deal with Iran and trade cast a shadow over the transatlantic relationship.

Merkel's trip, three days after French president Emmanuel Macron's state visit to the US capital, will come just before the expiry of an exemption for the European Union from US import duties on steel and aluminium.

The twin visits would give the European Union's two leading national leaders the opportunity to lobby for the bloc to be exempted permanently from the steel and aluminum tariffs. The tariffs are suspended for the EU until May 1.

Merkel's visit to the United States, first reported by mass-selling daily Bild, will also take place shortly before a May 12 deadline that Trump has set to improve an international deal to curb Iran's nuclear program.