The United States is our most important ally outside Europe. The United States is a central partner when it comes to our own defence capability and economic strength. We want to move this relationship forward. That is why I am travelling to the United States for the first time as Coordinator of Transatlantic Cooperation today, only a few days after a joint trip to Washington, DC with Defence Minister Pistorius.

I am deliberately beginning my trip somewhere other than the US coasts, in the state of Missouri. For we want to forge close contacts in both of the United States’ political camps, and to understand how the country ticks outside the capital, too. That includes contacts at state level, which are extremely important for us Germans both politically and economically. To this end, in Missouri I intend to build not least on the close societal and historical ties with Germany.

In Washington, DC, I will speak with political decision-makers and representatives of civil society. In this context I want to explain among other things how much has changed here, too, since Russia’s brutal attack on Ukraine, that we in Germany are now assuming much more responsibility for our own security as well as for that of our neighbours and NATO allies. We are also eager to identify economic opportunities despite the debate surrounding tariffs and to maintain our close civil society relations.