Ahead of US President Joe Biden’s maiden trip to Europe in mid-June, Germany and the United States are holding talks in Washington in a bid to settle the long-running row over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The timing of the German-American rendezvous is anything but coincidental. Germany’s Funke Media Group reported earlier this week that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s two top aides have been tasked with preparing a compromise deal on Nord Stream 2 – a pipeline meant to bring Russian gas to Western Europe – ahead of Biden’s visit. A German delegation led by Merkel’s foreign policy aide, Jan Hecker, and her chief economic adviser, Lars-Hendrik Roeller, is holding a crisis meeting on Wednesday with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Trade Representative Katherine Tai in the Washington residence of the German ambassador to the US, Emily Haber.