The VIP Treatment
Chancellor Angela Merkel is getting the full VIP treatment on June 7 in Washington, DC, from President Obama and the White House: A State Dinner, the Medal of Freedom Award, plus a lunch hosted by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden. There is not much more the Chancellor could expect in the way of American-style royal treatment. In making that effort, there is an expectation that the investment is worth it. Despite ups and downs in relations between Berlin and Washington, Germany remains an important if sometimes difficult partner.

Amidst all this fanfare, we are seeing the German-American relationship depicted as a high priority for the United States. The rationale is clear: Germany is the world’s fourth-largest economy and a major player in the web of global economic relations, be it in the G8, the G20, or the many other international institutions shaping the world’s economic health. Germany is also the economic leader of Europe and the U.S. has a high-stakes investment in the future of that enormous market. With some nervous news making the rounds about double-dips and further Greek bailouts, Germany has a strong hand in determining which way the economic wind will be blowing.

Second, the EU is an important partner for the U.S. in dealing with many challenges around the globe, even if relations are sometimes strained and complex. Germany’s key position in Brussels is critical to the decision-making process when it comes to marshaling the EU’s resources and the capabilities, and Germany has several important relationships with key countries like Russia where the U.S. is also pursuing important interests. And, despite military budget cuts, Germany remains an important member of NATO at a time when the alliance is struggling to define its mission in the twenty-first century.

Building on Twentieth-Century Legacies
Post-World War II, German-American relations have been based on the legacy of a unique combination of interests and goals which has defined the past and the present. The need now is to build on those legacies in defining the future, which is going to require adjusting those relations to a new combination of interests in a changing environment. That will not be an easy path for either the U.S. or Germany but President Obama is demonstrating on June 7 that he sees clear benefits in trying to forge this path.

In the second half of the twentieth century, there was no country in the world in which the U.S. invested more of its national interests than in the Federal Republic of Germany. As a main front line of the Cold War, millions of Americans in uniform were posted in West Germany for almost five decades. From the Berlin Airlift to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the fate of Germany was at the core of U.S. foreign policy. German unification in 1990 was the high point of a common strategy which signaled the end of the Cold War and the expansion of a unifying Europe.