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The German heavyweight had remained reluctant to praise Emmanuel Macron over his plans for a more closely integrated EU, including a joint army, until now.

But in the face of Mr Trump’s decision to pull Washington out of the Iran nuclear deal and slap tariffs on European steel and aluminium exports, Angela Merkel appeared to have had a change

of heart this week when she signalled her support for reform.

Top exporter Germany is especially vulnerable to a trade conflict with the United States and several analysts said the threats from Washington had given the notoriously cautious Mrs Merkel

added incentive to reach out to her French counterpart.

Laurence Boone, chief economist at Axa and a former adviser to French President Francois Hollande, said: “My sense is that she needs Macron now. Germany, with its trade surplus and car

industry, is the country that is most vulnerable to Trump.

Mr Macron, 40, has continued to plough ahead with his plans for further EU integration with the introduction of Brussels army and a shared defence budget.

But in signs cracks could begin to threaten the Franco-German partnership, Mrs Merkel did not express her support until this weekend when she said: “I am in favour of President Macron’s

proposal for an intervention initiative.”

During an interview with German paper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Mrs Merkel signalled her support for Mr Macron’s plans for a combined military force.

She also supported the idea of turning the euro zone's ESM rescue fund into a European Monetary Fund (EMF) with powers to give members hit by sovereign debt troubles short-term credit lines.

Mrs Merkel has been torn for months between compromising with Macron and satisfying conservative hardliners at home who accuse the French leader of seeking a "transfer union" in which

countries that refuse to reform are rewarded with German money.

And the creation of a populist, eurosceptic government in Italy last week has only reinforced this scepticism.

Mr Macron and his allies argue that Europe will continue to be vulnerable to external shocks unless its rules and structures are fundamentally overhauled.

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He has also called for a far bigger euro zone budget than Mrs Merkel has spelled out and urged Europe to become a bolder and more autonomous actor in defence – a shift that unsettles

conflict-wary Germans.

Philippe Martin, a former Macron adviser who heads France's Council of Economic Analysis (CAE) said: "What is good is that for the first time Merkel has said something precise about what she

has in mind.”

But he said Mrs Merkel's ideas for the euro zone, which reject federalist solutions in favour of an intergovernmental approach, are still not in line with those of her French counterpart.

He added: “It is the minimum so that there is no big rift between France and Germany at a time when it would be extremely damaging."

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