By Sarah Marsh, Benoit Van Overstraeten and Andreas Rinke BERLIN/PARIS (Reuters) - New German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced a reset in French-German relations to help Europe overcome the "enormous" security and economic challenges it faced during his first trip abroad since taking office to top ally France on Wednesday.

Mr Merz and French president Emmanuel Macron — both firm believers in the European Union — used their first meeting since the German leader’s appointment on Tuesday to present a united front in the face of US president Donald Trump’s trade war, Russian aggression in Ukraine and other issues causing alarm in Europe.

The French minister said that he expects the relationship between Paris and Berlin will be simpler under Merz than it was under his predecessor. In particular, France is looking f