FILE PHOTO: Acting German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) speaks during a press conference after exploratory talks about forming a new coalition government at the SPD headquarters in Berlin, Germany, January 12, 2018. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel plans to travel next Wednesday to the Swiss Alpine town of Davos to speak at the World Economic Forum (WEF), her spokesman said on Friday.

“The chancellor plans to travel to Davos on Wednesday,” Steffen Seibert told a news conference, adding that she was due to address a plenary session and could also have some bilateral meetings on the margins of the event.

In Davos, Merkel will be speaking on the same day as French President Emmanuel Macron - two days before U.S. President Donald Trump, with whom the two European leaders could find themselves in an epic clash of competing world views.