Top U.S. diplomat Blinken heads to Europe for NATO, trade meetings

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Germany on Saturday for a meeting of NATO foreign ministers on their response to the war in Ukraine, the State Department said on Thursday.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock last month invited the ministers to an unofficial meeting in Berlin. The meeting comes as Finland, worried by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, moves to join NATO.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said any accession process would be “smooth and swift” and that Finland would be warmly welcomed.

On Sunday, May 15, Blinken will travel to Paris with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo for the second ministers’ meeting of the U.S.-E.U. Trade and Technology Council. 

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu;Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)