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NSA day and a half later, Olaf Schultz Berlin will have his back – at least physically. On Wednesday night, the would-be future chancellor arrived in Washington. In his office as finance minister, Schulz wants to participate in the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund. He is expected to return to Berlin on Thursday. Explorations around the Traffic Light Alliance are set to continue on Friday.

Schulze visited Washington several times, most recently in July. But this visit takes place in different circumstances than the trip three months ago. Of course, Schultz has long been no longer seen as a “fair” Treasury secretary among his peers in Washington. He scored an electoral victory with 25.7 percent behind him, and is considered the future chancellor of Germany.

What a contrast from July. While Schultz was in Washington at the time, he was described at home as having no chance, at times as a poor man. Infratest Dimap estimated SPD at 15 percent.

Schulz continues to rule ‘seriously’

Forming a government or not – the decision to participate in the IMF conference is a “real Schulz” – typical of his understanding of politics. With the trip Schultz wants to make it clear: he continues to govern, and he continues his ministerial duties, “a serious one,” as he likes to say. Germany has been in a transitional phase since then Bundestag elections Not without a leader, on the contrary.

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Germany’s foreign policy

Presumably, the finance minister also wants to use the meeting with his peers and central bank governors to once again recall his role in creating a global minimum tax. Recently, 136 countries agreed to a minimum corporate tax rate of 15% starting in 2023. Scholz has campaigned for this for a long time.

While former US President Donald Trump opposed it, Joe Biden’s Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sided with Schultz. Now he is likely to meet Schulze and Yellen again. Other topics in the IMF: Covid, climate, supply chains.

White House appointment uncertain

It is highly unlikely that President Biden will receive a potential future adviser publicly. So far, Biden has barely commented on the outcome of the federal election — even in Sunday’s election itself, while the results were only available in the form of forecasts and were called out by a reporter.

Biden knows Germany’s system of government like few others in Washington. He can count on Schultz as an advisor. But he should know that exploratory talks do not guarantee certainty. Biden’s appointment with Schulz is now understood as interference in the formation of a German government. Neither side is interested in that.

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And Kamala Harris? During his summer visit, Schultz had hoped to meet the Vice President. Everything is equipped. The Vice-President welcomes the Vice-Chancellor – and this will certainly delight the candidate of the Social Democratic chancellor in the hot phase of the election campaign. But Harris’s appointment was cancelled. Will the meeting be rescheduled now, perhaps spontaneously? Neither the American nor the German side declared such a thing. Will he reach that? is unlikely.

Accompanying Schulz in Washington is Jacob von Weizsäcker, head of the policy department at the Federal Treasury. Under Schultz, he could become the head of the economic and financial department of the Chancellery. Meanwhile, Schulz’s closest advisor, Foreign Minister Wolfgang Schmidt, is in Berlin. There is a lot of coordination there.

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