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The Trump administration is considering appointing a top Treasury official as US ambassador to Germany as it moves towards filling a position in a major European capital that has been vacant for more than a year.
Three senior US officials said John Hurley, the Treasury under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, was interviewing with the White House for senior ambassadorial positions, including for envoy to Berlin.
The officials strongly rejected suggestions that Hurley was being pushed out of Treasury amid speculation in Washington about internal administration conflicts.
They added he would remain in his role at the Treasury pending more job talks with the White House next week.
They further stressed that while Hurley and the White House had not settled on his next role, the former soldier and financier retained the confidence of his colleagues across the Trump administration.
The Senate confirmed Hurley in July. He has played a pivotal role in the administration’s sanctions against Russia and talks with Ukraine. He has also been heavily involved in the building up of sanctions on drug cartels in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America as well as the crackdown on Iran’s oil trade.
The talks about becoming ambassador to Germany come as Washington’s relations with many European allies remain tense. President Donald Trump’s repeated blows to Europe and Nato have been particularly painful for Germany, which has had deep ties with the US since the end of the second world war.
The US threat to reduce its defence posture in Europe has prompted conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz, a staunch Atlanticist, to launch a massive rearmament plan, upending nearly eight decades of security reliance on Washington.
Other contentious topics include US tariffs, which have hit Germany’s export-oriented manufacturers hard and undermined Merz’s efforts to revive Europe’s largest economy.
Hurley won a bronze star during the first Gulf war as a soldier before entering a career in finance. During the first Trump administration, he served on the president’s intelligence advisory board.