As the inevitable bust-up between a quixotic US President and his wayward billionaire tech guru was erupting into colourful headlines around the world, a tall, grey, spectacled man, very different in character from either, was quietly leaving the White House with his entourage.
This was Friedrich Merz, the head of Germany’s new government, who had just completed his first visit to the Oval Office as Chancellor. It was a meeting that may prove of more lasting significance for the wider world than the verbal fireworks between Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
