The meeting of Merkel and Biden on Thursday in the White House is eagerly awaited.
Shortly before that, Maas is on the road in the USA.
At one point he strikes a different note than the Chancellor.
Kalamazoo - Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has been open to talks about softening the patent protection for corona vaccines.
"This is a discussion that we are having and that we do not want to refuse," said the SPD politician on Tuesday when visiting a production facility of the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer in Kalamazoo in the US state of Michigan. In the short term, however, he sees no possibility of a suspension, which is why the priority at the moment is improving supply chains and building production facilities in poorer countries. “You have to do both, you can do it in parallel,” stressed Maas.
Poorer countries, but also the USA, have been campaigning for a suspension of patent protection for vaccines for some time in order to accelerate the global vaccination campaign.
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) has so far clearly rejected this.
This is not the first time that Maas has taken a different note.
The Chancellor will meet with US President Joe Biden in the White House on Thursday.
This topic could also play a role in this.
Maas emphasizes cooperation
Maas began a three-day visit to the USA in Michigan. In Kalamazoo, he visited the largest pharmaceutical production facility in the USA, which also produces corona vaccines. Pfizer is working together with the German company Biontech. Even before his departure, the Foreign Minister emphasized the importance of international cooperation in the distribution of vaccines. "Without global solidarity in vaccine distribution, Delta will not be the last variant we have to defeat," he said.
Maas also wanted to visit the former industrial metropolis of Detroit on Tuesday, which has been suffering from massive population decline for decades due to the crisis in the automotive industry, among other things.
On Tuesday evening he wanted to travel to New York, where he will be attending a meeting of the UN Security Council on the Libya conflict on Thursday.
Three weeks ago Maas organized a meeting of foreign ministers in Berlin together with the United Nations, at which the aim was once again to end outside interference in the conflict.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had combined the Libya meeting with his inaugural visit to Berlin.
That is one reason why Maas does not stop in Washington during his trip to the USA.
Instead, Chancellor Merkel set off for the US capital on Wednesday to meet Biden in the White House on Thursday. She is also awarded an honorary doctorate from Johns Hopkins University. dpa