Merkel sets off for farewell US visit as chancellor

German Chancellor Angela Merkel left Germany on Wednesday for what will in all likelihood be her last official visit to the US before her almost 16-year term in office ends after the September federal election. Although the Merkel era is coming to an end, the trip is being seen as marking a new beginning in German-US relations following the marked tensions between Berlin and Washington under the administration of Donald Trump. However, although new US President Joe Biden has vowed to steer his country away from the far more unilateral "America First" course of his predecessor, he and Merkel will…