BERLIN: US President Joe Biden has nominated University of Pennsylvania president Amy Gutmann as ambassador to Germany, German government sources said Wednesday, after tumultuous years with Donald Trump’s envoy.

Gutmann, 71, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, would be the first woman appointed to the post.

The German officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed a report in Der Spiegel magazine.

Gutmann’s appointment must be confirmed by the US Senate and approved by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The sources said no date had yet been set for her accreditation.

The United States had previously been represented in Berlin by Trump ally Richard Grenell, who raised hackles in Germany with a combative approach, including vowing to empower anti-establishment right-wingers in Europe.

He regularly angered his host country with outspoken criticism of everything from the Iran nuclear deal to Berlin’s defence spending and relations with Chinese tech firm Huawei. Grenell returned to Washington to become Trump’s director of national intelligence before resigning as ambassador in June 2020.