Merz gifts Trump replica of 1785 US-Prussia trade treaty

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz addressed the ongoing US-EU trade tensions by presenting US President Donald Trump with a replica of a 1785 friendship and trade treaty between the United States and Prussia.

Merz, who met with Trump at the White House on Tuesday, said the treaty was the first international trade agreement signed between the United States and a third country, in this case Prussia.

On July 4, 1776, the British colonies declared their independence from the United Kingdom, paving the way for the founding of the United States.

During their first meeting in June 2025, Merz had given Trump a gold-framed copy of a historical birth certificate of Trump's grandfather and invited him to visit his ancestral hometown, a small village in south-west Germany.

Trump had also received a golf club engraved with the flags of Germany and the United States.