The European charm offensive that turned Trump against Putin
From golf rounds to friendly texts, how NATO members convinced the US President to harden his stance on Russia.
After seeing footage of Russian air strikes on Ukrainian cities late on July 11, President Trump called German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on his cellphone to express frustration over Vladimir Putin’s continued assault on his smaller neighbour, according to two people familiar with the conversation.
Merz was surprised, these people said, but quickly realised Trump had lost patience with the Russian president. Trump said he was now ready to accept an offer Merz had made days earlier: to use German funds to buy US-made weapons for Ukraine, the two officials said.
“President Trump has expressed his frustration with Putin in public and in private,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said. “He wants to stop the killing and end this brutal war, which is why he is selling American-made weapons to NATO members.”
On Monday, Trump set a 50-day deadline for Putin to begin negotiating in earnest, announced a major arms package for Ukraine – to be financed by North Atlantic Treaty Organisation countries – and threatened to impose additional economic sanctions on Moscow if it didn’t move to end the war.
The moves followed a months-long campaign by European leaders – who didn’t think Putin was serious about negotiating and instead was seeking to seize more territory in Ukraine – to persuade Trump to arm Kyiv and pressure Putin into serious negotiations.
Germany, France, Britain and others stepped up engagement with the US government, with senior politicians opening confidential back channels to key Trump administration officials.
Alexander Stubb, president of Finland, struck up a friendship with Trump at a golf tournament in Florida, according to the two leaders’ statements and Finnish officials. Merz visited Trump on June 5 at the White House and then spoke to him nearly every week, according to German officials.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte sent flattering text messages – and later called Trump “daddy” as he voiced support for the American leader’s frustration with Israel and Iran and getting those two countries’ ceasefire to stick.
During the NATO summit in the Netherlands on June 25, member states said they would spend 5% of their GDP on defence – meeting a longstanding Trump demand. In the months prior, European leaders had persuaded Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to engage directly with Trump and unconditionally accept negotiations with Putin.
Behind the scenes, European officials also cultivated relationships with senior US cabinet members seen as more sympathetic to Ukraine, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as well as a network of pro-Ukraine Republican politicians.
Germany Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil met Bessent, who said he would lobby Trump on both sanctions and weapons, German officials said. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul engaged with Rubio, according to people familiar with the confidential discussions. The Treasury Department declined to comment. The State Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
“We are doing this in our own interest,” Merz said Tuesday. The US and Europe were now aligned, he added. “It will help Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s campaign of bomb terror. Only in this way will pressure on Moscow increase to finally negotiate peace.”
Trump, meanwhile, Tuesday said the US wasn’t planning to provide long-range missiles to Ukraine as part of an new aid plan, and warned Kyiv against targeting Moscow. His remarks to reporters at the White House saw him continue his pattern of alternating between pressure on Russia and Ukraine.
Earlier this month, Trump counselled Zelensky to take the war to Russia and asked whether Kyiv was able to hit Moscow and St. Petersburg, according to a senior Ukrainian official familiar with the exchange. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt offered a different interpretation Tuesday of the July 4 call between the two leaders. She said Trump “was merely asking a question, not encouraging further killing.”
Merz – who made his fortune in the private sector and pilots his own plane – has found it easier to connect than previous German leaders with Trump, aides to Merz said. A factor was his ability to pledge extensive funding for US weapons after amending Germany’s constitution to allow virtually unlimited borrowing – something his predecessors had failed to achieve.
“Merz found the right approach, and now he gets to talk to Trump on his cellphone and engage in checkbook diplomacy,” said Nico Lange, a former senior German defence official. “Unlike [French President Emmanuel] Macron and others, he can actually put his money where his mouth is.” Two Merz aides said they thought their biggest success came when Trump dropped his equidistant posture between Moscow and Kyiv and clearly named Russia as the aggressor in the war and then agreed to resume arms shipments.
“Ultimately talk doesn’t talk. It’s got to be action. It’s got to be results,” Trump said in the Oval Office when meeting Monday with Rutte.
It is a significant shift. Around two weeks ago, the Pentagon said it would halt the supply of Patriot air-defence systems and other precision weapons to Ukraine. Upon hearing that news, Merz requested a call with Trump. The call took place on July 3, with Trump phoning from the Oval Office, joined by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“I called to congratulate you on the Fourth of July and to offer a deal, ” Merz said, according to people familiar with the conversation.
The offer: Germany would buy two Patriot systems for Ukraine, now that the US had stopped exporting them. But Trump seemed unaware of the decision to halt the weapons deliveries.
“Pete, what’s going on?” he asked, according to those familiar with the call. Days later, the Pentagon reversed course. The Defense Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
During the call, Trump vented about Putin stringing him along, though he didn’t commit to selling the two systems to Germany at that time.
On Friday, after seeing more harrowing footage from Ukraine, Trump offered to sell not two but five Patriot systems in his impromptu call to Merz. The German leader immediately agreed, though he would need to negotiate the financing with other European leaders, according to people familiar with his thinking.
Germany likely will send two of its own Patriot systems to Ukraine and commission replacements from the US at a cost of around $US2 billion ($3.07bn). Norway will buy one of the systems, while Rutte mentioned Canada, Denmark and Finland as other potential contributors.
“One thing is clear, and this is also a plea to all other European NATO members: We all must now open our wallets,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Monday during a visit to the U.S.
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