Merkel on a delicate mission

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will start a two-day visit to China on Thursday and Friday in an attempt to boost relations between Germany and China and China-EU ties amid a highly volatile and uncertain international climate. The main reason for this volatility is the uncertainty created by US President Donald Trump, whether in trade disputes with China and the European Union, or his rash decision to pull the United States out of the Iran nuclear deal. This latest Trump move has angered Europeans following his withdrawal from the Paris climate change agreement and relocation of the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Transatlantic relations are facing difficult times.

While there is a temporary truce between Beijing and Washington on trade matters, Germany and the EU remain in the firing line with Trump continuing to rail against German car exports to the US and his threat of 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminium still hanging in the air.

Against this background, Merkel will seek to make common cause where possible with President Xi Jinping and at the same time point out some growing problems. On paper, Germany, the EU and China are strong supporters of the multilateral system, including the World Trade Organization and the United Nations - but only up to a point. Beijing and Brussels have both engaged in direct trade talks with Washington rather than using the WTO. China, meanwhile, is taking the EU to the WTO court over the bloc's failure to grant China market economy status. And the EU is working with the US, and Japan, to press China to reduce its steel output. It is a messy situation.