Editing Angela Merkel (section)

===Foreign policy===
[[File:Angela Merkel Barack Obama 2015-02-09.jpg|thumb|left|alt=photograph of Merkel and Obama|Merkel with US president [[Barack Obama]] in the [[Oval Office]], 2015]]{{Main|Foreign policy of the Angela Merkel government|List of international trips made by Angela Merkel}}

Merkel's foreign policy has focused on strengthening European cooperation and international trade agreements. She and her governments have been closely associated with the [[Wandel durch Handel|change through trade]] ({{lang|de|Wandel durch Handel}}) policy.<ref name="Matthijs-2021">{{cite news |last1=Matthijs |first1=Matthias |last2=Kelemen |first2=R. Daniel |title=The Other Side of Angela Merkel |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/07/09/angela-merkel-german-chancellor-europe-trade-euro-refugees-crisis/ |access-date=27 May 2022 |publisher=Foreign Policy |date=9 July 2021 |archive-date=30 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220430055833/https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/07/09/angela-merkel-german-chancellor-europe-trade-euro-refugees-crisis/ |url-status=live }}</ref> For this, she has come under criticism, especially after the 2022 [[Russian invasion of Ukraine]].<ref name="Karnitschnig-2022">{{cite news |last1=Karnitschnig |first1=Matthew |title=12 Germans who got played by Putin |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/blame-germany-russia-policy/ |access-date=27 May 2022 |publisher=Politico |date=5 May 2022 |archive-date=29 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220529010644/https://www.politico.eu/article/blame-germany-russia-policy/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Schulz-2022">{{cite news |last1=Schulz |first1=Sven Christian |title=War der Westen naiv? |url=https://www.rnd.de/politik/war-der-westen-naiv-ES3APKTGJ5CGXLCP57MMYKUJ2M.html |access-date=27 May 2022 |publisher=Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland |date=5 April 2022 |archive-date=27 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220527034758/https://www.rnd.de/politik/war-der-westen-naiv-ES3APKTGJ5CGXLCP57MMYKUJ2M.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Merkel has been widely described as the ''de facto'' leader of the [[European Union]] throughout her tenure as Chancellor.<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=TIME Person of the Year 2015: Angela Merkel |url=https://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2015-angela-merkel/ |access-date=8 June 2023 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |archive-date=29 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190529051902/http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2015-angela-merkel/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Giuffrida |first1=Angela |last2=Connolly |first2=Kate |last3=Henley |first3=Jon |date=3 October 2021 |title=Draghi, Scholz or Macron? Merkel's crown as Europe's leader up for grabs |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/03/draghi-scholz-or-macron-merkels-crown-as-europes-leader-up-for-grabs |access-date=8 June 2023 |issn=0261-3077 |archive-date=3 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230603052636/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/03/draghi-scholz-or-macron-merkels-crown-as-europes-leader-up-for-grabs |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Forbes">{{Cite web |title=Angela Merkel |url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/angela-merkel/ |access-date=8 June 2023 |website=Forbes |language=en |archive-date=25 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190525025708/https://www.forbes.com/profile/angela-merkel/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In [[2015 G20 Antalya summit|2015]], with the absence of [[Stephen Harper]], Merkel became the only leader to have attended every [[G20]] meeting since the first in [[2008 G20 Washington summit|2008]], having been present at a record [[List of G20 summits|fifteen summits]] as of [[2021 G20 Rome summit|2021]]. She hosted the twelfth meeting at the [[2017 G20 Hamburg summit]].<ref name="G20Announcement">{{cite news|title=G20-Gipfel in Hamburg: Merkel nennt erstmals Themen|url=https://www.abendblatt.de/politik/article208177485/G20-Gipfel-in-Hamburg-Merkel-nennt-erstmals-Themen.html|access-date=12 September 2016|newspaper=Hamburger Abendblatt|archive-date=3 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181203055517/https://www.abendblatt.de/politik/article208177485/G20-Gipfel-in-Hamburg-Merkel-nennt-erstmals-Themen.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Merkel favors the [[EU-Ukraine relations#European Union Association Agreement|Association Agreement]] between [[Ukraine]] and the [[European Union]]. In December 2012, she stated that its implementation depends on reforms in Ukraine.<ref>{{cite news|work=[[Kyiv Post]] |url=http://www.kyivpost.com/content/politics/klitschko-ukraines-eu-prospects-depend-on-new-parliament-317148.html |title=Klitschko, Merkel discuss prospects for signing EU-Ukraine association agreement |agency=[[Interfax-Ukraine]] |date=5 December 2012 |archive-date=5 December 2012 |url-status = live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121205070507/http://www.kyivpost.com/content/politics/klitschko-ukraines-eu-prospects-depend-on-new-parliament-317148.html  }}</ref>

Merkel expressed support for Israel's right to self-defence in the context of the [[2014 Israel–Gaza conflict]]. She telephoned Israeli Prime Minister [[Benjamin Netanyahu]] on 9 July to condemn "without reservation rocket fire on Israel".<ref>{{cite web |last=Shamah |first=David |url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-pounds-gaza-targets-after-rocket-barrage-hits-as-far-north-as-hadera/#at_22:15 |title=Hamas rockets reach the north, Abbas charges Israel with genocide |newspaper=[[The Times of Israel]] |date=6 July 2014 |access-date=7 June 2020 |archive-date=7 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607204208/https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-pounds-gaza-targets-after-rocket-barrage-hits-as-far-north-as-hadera/#at_22:15 |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 20 June 2018, which was [[World Refugee Day]], Merkel said that there had been "no moral or political justification" for the post-war [[Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–50)|expulsion of ethnic Germans]] from Central and Eastern European countries.<ref>{{cite news |title=Merkel calls Sudeten German expulsion "immoral", drawing Czech ire |url=http://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/merkel-calls-sudeten-german-expulsion-immoral-drawing-czech-ire |work=Czech Radio |date=21 June 2018 |access-date=22 June 2018 |archive-date=30 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130172217/https://english.radio.cz/merkel-calls-sudeten-german-expulsion-immoral-drawing-czech-ire-8157867 |url-status=live }}</ref>