内容摘要：Over the years, several paintings, drawings and sketches of him have circulated around the world.

Over the years, several paintings, drawings and sketches of him have circulated around the world.

Merz's forthright, "shoot-from-the-hip" style of politics could add an interesting dimension to the meeting. His remarks can be surprising and make headlines - a stark contrast to those of his more cautious predecessors, Olaf Scholz and Angela Merkel.Though a traditional supporter of transatlantic relations, Merz raised eyebrows in February by declaring the current US administration is "indifferent to the fate of Europe".

So far, the White House has been uncharacteristically quiet about Merz's visit.It was only briefly mentioned by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt in a gaggle with reporters on Monday, and not at all during briefings at the White House and State Department on Tuesday.Sources familiar with the visit suggested several topics that could dominate the conversation.

Of these, tariffs would be among the most pressing, particularly after Trump doubled import taxes on steel and aluminium this week, prompting warnings of EU countermeasures.The US President also repeatedly expressed dismay with the speed of tariff negotiations with the EU. In May, he threatened to levy a 50% tariff on European goods, saying that it was "time that we play the game the way I know how to play the game".

Trump later backtracked and delayed the tariffs until 9 July, a move that his US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer characterised as having a "fire lit" under the EU.

Germany is the EU's largest exporter to the US, leaving the country's businesses extremely agitated about any trade obstacles."We want the vine to put all its energy into the shoots that have the flowers where the grapes are going to grow," she explains.

I leave Élodie working her way down the rows of vines, and walk up to the house and winery in the Burgundy village of Morey-Saint-Denis, where I meet owner and winemaker Cécile Tremblay.She takes me down to her cellar to taste some of her prized red wines, standing among the oak barrels and old bottles with labels weathered by mould and age.

They have names on them that make wine lovers go weak at the knees - Nuits-Saint-Georges, Echezeaux, Vosne-Romanée, Clos-Vougeot, and Chapelle-Chambertin.Ms Tremblay sells over half of her wine abroad, under the name Domaine Cecile Tremblay.