Potentially the joint News Conference later this afternoon. Our eamon javers watching all of that at the white house. Hey, eamon. Reporter hey. Good morning, carl. Its a germanthemed st. Patricks day here at the west wing of the white house. As you mentioned, we are expecting Angela Merkel here in just a few minutes time. About 11 20 is when we expect her arrival here at the west wing. You can see the doors ready for her. The media crews are out here ready to go. The honor guard has been up and running since very early this morning, so were expecting a friendly visit here. Obviously, germany one of the most important allies of the United States, but there is some tension in the air here, carl, because the president during his president ial campaign really went after Angela Merkel as a foil in the Global Political scene again and again, saying that she was ruining germany, she was allowing too many immigrants into that nation. So, the point of tension here is going to be how do these two leaders get past those comments and sort of move on to International Diplomacy in this new trump era here in washington, d. C. . Also, were expecting a whole lot of ceos here for a roundtable discussion in just about an hour and a half. Were expecting to see ceos of some of the major German Companies, including bmw and siemens and also ceos of some major american companies, including ibm and dow chemical. I can tell you, i talked to Andrew Liveris of dow just moments ago as he walked in. He wouldnt tell me much about whats on the agenda, but he did say that apprenticeship and job training in particular for bluecollar workers will be on the agenda for discussion today. One of the things that ceos have been telling this white house over the past couple of months is that that program that germany has for training Industrial Workers is so important to their economic success. Theres a lot of interest here in this white house, carl, to mimic that program and see if there can be an american version of it. Expect to hear some of that conversation with the ceos and the president later on this morning, carl. All right, ill pick it up, eamon, thank you. Eamon javers at the white house. Reporter you bet. For more on trumps meeting with german chancellor Angela Merkel, lets talk trade. Ambassador Michael Froman joins us, and ambassador Myriam Shapiro joins us. Great to have you. Great to have trade experts to talk about the u. S. german relationship. Clearly, this is critical for germany. Were the biggest buyer of german exports. The made in germany machine is doing quite well right now. What can germany convince the u. S. On its side of the things, why the u. S. Needs germany from a trade perspective . Well, germanys been a critical partner of the u. S. In europe, and chancellor merkel in particular has been a close partner of the last two president s and working through a lot of the issues of the global economy. So, i would imagine she would want to talk to the president about how to make sure trade remains open between the u. S. And europe and to try to push President Trump and has administration to take a more leadship role in the global economy. On the other side, this president is focused on the bilateral trade deficit with certain countries, including germany. And i imagine theyll want to talk about how important it is for germany to have more demandled growth in germany and not rely solely on exports. How, ambassador shapiro, is germany likely to react to that . They have the third biggest trade deficit with the United States after china and japan, and thats something we know President Trump is going to go after. Right. Well, clearly, this is a very important meeting for both leaders. They have a lot riding on it with respect to trade, also security, also with respect to russia. I think whats most important is that they try to establish a personal rapport, a chemistry that would help them deal with some of these difficult issues. And if the president does mention the 65 billion trade deficit that hes been bothered about with germany, its an opportunity for the chancellor to push back and talk about the fact that we want to grow trade both between the u. S. And germany and between the u. S. And the eu as a whole. One way to do that is to try to rejuvenate the bilateral trade negotiations that were begun several years ago between the u. S. And the eu. Ambassador froman, do you think that chancellor merkel is more likely to focus on the trade deficit or on u. S. Job growth . I believe German Companies directly employ more than 800,000 workers inside the u. S. Is that likely to be the most i guess the highest card that she has to play in this conversation . I think thats right. I think shell want to emphasize just how much crossborder investment there is and the role that German Companies play in the United States, both as employers and as major exporters. Shes been very smart in bringing these ceos to washington to talk about how the u. S. Is a major export platform, and thats why its been so important for the u. S. To open other markets so more Companies Like bmw and others will come to the United States, build product here, both for the u. S. Market and to export all over the world. And i imagine shell be encouraging the administration to continue down that path. Ambassador sapiro, i wonder, im fascinated by this element of Vocational Training and the degree to which it appears were going to i dont know, are we going to try to take some lessons from germany on this front . By the way, were watching this chart of mulesoft, well get to that open in a few moments. But i wonder what we intend to copy and what we have to learn from germany. Well, again, we should be looking at how to better balance trade, but its not a question of simply eliminating a deficit. Theres really no situation where a country runs a surplus with every other trading partner. Its just not how trade is done these days with Global Supply chains. But what we can do is look at programs like the apprenticeship, which is not a new idea, but its an important idea. How can we do a better job in the u. S. Of training and retraining our workers so they can really have the skills they need to compete effectively in the 21st century . We have not done that effectively or as effectively as we could do, and this is an opportunity to move ahead on that front. One of the other points of contention, ambassador froman, relating to trade, is peter navarro, the top trade adviser to President Trump, not too long ago accusing germany of currency exploitati exploitation, authorize, taking advantage of weaker euro members, and therefore, the weaker euro, to help its export machine be more competitive all over the globe. What do you think is going to be the German Response to this . Well, i think germany will make clear that they dont control the level of the euro, they dont have control over monetary policy. Of course, there is an issue that youve got countries as diverse as germany and greece with Different Levels of productivity all using one currency, and therefore, there is an issue there within a single currency framework, but thats why its so important to focus not so much on the currency level per se but on encouraging the kind of domestic, demandled growth to continue and to grow in germany so they are buying imports as well as selling exports. Im also thinking back to past visits that have looked like this one. Maybe not exactly like this one, but when abe came, ambassador froman, it was coordinated with announcements of new jobs in this country, new factories, massa san saying he was going to launch that vision fund. Would you expect Something Like that just for optics sake, for bmw to say were going to expand South Carolina deployment by x percent . Thats always possible, but of course, these decisions by Major Companies are not decisions that are made on the fly. They involve months or years of preparation in terms of how they want to deploy their capital or build out their product lines. And so, i think if you are likely to see an announcement, then its likely to reflect plans that have been in the works for some time. You know, i think its smart to have the ceos get together and help underscore just how much they have in terms of common interests, and that can also help at the leader level to smooth over differences that have emerged. Ambassador sapiro, to what extent does it matter that President Trump made these comments during the campaign about chancellor merkel . Immigration is an important topic. Certainly, it affects the room, i suppose, that chancellor merkel might feel that she has to appear cozier with President Trump. Thats bound to have some political effect on her at home. How do you expect that to play out . Well, it cant have been an easy meeting for her to prepare for, given the comments that President Trump made about her policies and about germany. Its probably not an easy meeting for him to prepare for either in the sense that shes seen as not only powerful but very well respected, global leader, and one that has created a lot of Economic Growth without protectionist policies. That said, they both have a lot riding on trying to establish that personal chemistry. Theyll have a half hour alone, just one on one, to try to do that. And then i think the second order of business is to show the world that no matter what they might agree or disagree on, whether its deficits or security issues, the importance of nato, the importance of eu unity or a common approach to russia, the Underlying Partnership remains strong. U. S. And germany are in this together and will continue to build on that partnership. I think thats the most important message. And they both seem to understand that thats where they should come out today. Well, we will see if that happens. They couldnt be more stylistically different. If you would, would you both stay with us, because were going to continue to talk about germany this hour . Ambassador froman, ambassador sapiro, thank you for now. Thank you. Happy to. Before we go to break, lets check on shares of mulesoft. Pretty nice pop here at a 46 47 gain on the open. Were going to talk to the ceo in just a few moments on a busy day for ipos. As we go to break, the dows coming off three Straight Days of losses, adobe leading most stocks. Were going to dig into that later on this hour. Jon talked to the ceo. Dow for the time being down 11 points. Dont go away. At fidelity, trades are now just 4. 95. We cut the price of trades to give investors even more value. And at 4. 95, you can trade with a clear advantage. Fidelity, where smarter investors will always be. The dinosaurs extinction. Wgot you outnumbered. E. Dont listen to them. Not appropriate. Now im mashing these potatoes with my stick of butter. Why dont you sit over here. Something for everyone is awesome. Find your awesome with the Xfinity Stream app. More to stream to every screen. Live shot of the white house, looking at the honor guard as we await the german chancellor coming for her visit with the president. Were going to be looking for the arrival, of course, perhaps a pool spray around this roundtable with german ceos. The joint press conference not until 1 20 this afternoon, but a lot of attention will be on germany, the relation with this country and the white house today. Yes, and meanwhile, here on wall street, Enterprise SoftwareCompany Mulesoft just opened for tradeing with a pretty decent pop. Take a look at the stock chart right now, up nearly 50 , trading above 25 bucks a share. The companys Software Helps more easily integrate apps in this cloud era. Accounts, cocacola, mcdonalds and spotify. Joining us, greg schott, ceo of mulesoft. Welcome to post 9. Thanks. Good to be here. Quite a journey to hear. First we hear pricing around 16, you priced around 17, now you open up here. Arguably, your ipo is more important for Silicon Valley writ large than snap was, because there are a lot of sort of midmarket Enterprise Cloud plays, and people dont naturally get excited about it unless you do well. How rough was the road to get here . How are you feeling about the way this has opened . Well, if youre talking about the road for the company, we spent ten years building this place. So, that was a long road, but a lot of great work. The actual ipo process went very well. Its a great market right now. There are a lot of Great Companies that have been built over the past few years that are ready to go public, and i think were just seeing the results of th that, and the market is interested in the growth of a lot of these Companies Like ours. At end of 2016, it didnt necessarily look like it would be a great market for this. Yeah, yeah. What were you hearing at that point . What kind of questions did you get preparing for this day right here from investors . Well, investors just want to know that theres a longterm growth trajectory for the company. They want to know that theres a big market and a big market opportunity. And if you have those two things and youre showing that youre executing as a company, then you usually can go forward. And people are pretty excited about the story. Now, if i understand your business correctly, a big part of what youre doing is playing in the cloud era. There are a lot of different types of applications, salesforce, various things that a Company Might use. Youre providing a dashboard where people can integrate those things, a tool where people can use that data, companies with use that data internally more efficiently. Now, normally, the way Enterprise Software works, Big Companies buy up the smaller players as a new trend matures, and they do that themselves. Are you a play against the sort of bet that that sort of cloud consolidation is going to occur . And if we see consolidation, is that going to hurt you . I would see it more as if you think about the explosion of applications so now theres thousands of sas applications. Our company alone runs 200 sas applications, so you have 50 billion connected devices expected by 2020 and people moving workloads into the cloud. So, you have this incredible diversity of i. T. Assets. And the real struggle that Companies Face is how do you make it all Work Together . How do you make it all connect so when a patient comes into a hospital, all those systems are connected together, or somebody is ordering online, how do you make all those systems tie together. We provide the connectivity to make it all Work Together. And people build what we call an Application Network to make that happen. So, whos the biggest competitor, ibm . Our biggest competitor is actually custom pointtopoint code. What people tend to do is they write code to make that all Work Together, and we provide this platform to enable that to happen. But somehow, youre getting Companies Like cocacola, to pay on average 143,000 per year for your services. Yeah, yeah. Big companies, cocacola, bank of america, salesforce, spotify, companies, really Interesting Companies using us really to build their business upon. And traditionally, though, it is the ibms and oracles of the world that buy up these Smaller Companies and say were going to integrate these for you. One throat to choke, right . So, youre taking the throat out of the equation. How does that play, if we do eventually get into an era where oracle, which had a very good quarter just a couple of days ago, starts to acquire more of these companies that are your customers and try to integrate them themselves . Yeah, i think youre always going to see integration happen. S. A. P. Had that for a long period of time. It was the one place. And oracle will have it and salesforce and workday, but there are so many companies, everybody moving to the cloud on amazon and google cloud. So, there are so many places that people are building their applications. I dont see it all converging to one central system. How do you deal with the sales and marketing challenge . Right now, one of the big barriers to your profitability is youre having to get the word out, go out there, get a sales force, acquire customers traditionally in the enterprise business. Thats one of the reasons why bigger players try to come in and acquire because they already have that as a sunk cost. How do you push through that challenge into perhaps eventual profitability . Yeah. Our biggest thing is that we are a recurring revenue model, so all of our Software Subscriptions are annual or fewyear contracts. Then we renew them with our customers and expand them dramatically over time. So its that landandexpand model for our business that helps us be more productive from a sales and marketing standpoint. All right. Greg schott, ceo of mulesoft. And stock is higher even during this conversation, up now better than 5