Germany’s new conservative chancellor, Friedrich Merz, stated his intention to urge officials in the Trump administration to refrain from interfering in German domestic politics. In a television interview with public broadcaster ZDF, Merz remarked, “I did not interfere in the American election campaign and take sides for one or the other. I would like to encourage and exhort the American government to leave German domestic politics to Germany and to largely stay out of these partisan considerations.”
His comments come in the wake of Germany’s federal domestic intelligence agency classifying the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) as a “proven” extremist organization last week. Following this classification, the AfD received support from prominent members of Trump’s Cabinet, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who referred to the decision as “tyranny in disguise” on social media platform X.
Merz characterized Rubio's comment as an “absurd observation” and indicated that he might address the issue during a scheduled call with U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday. When asked about his approach in discussions with Trump, Merz stated he would “openly represent” German and European positions.
He emphasized the significance of the European Union, saying, “Together, we are even bigger than the U.S. The number of consumers here is greater than in America and Canada combined. So, we have something to offer here. We can do something. We are united, to a large extent anyway, and that will be my message to the American government.”
Merz mentioned that he would meet Trump in person for the first time at the NATO summit in The Hague, scheduled for June at the latest. In preparation for this meeting, he is traveling to Paris and Warsaw on Wednesday to coordinate a common European strategy on defense with his counterparts.
During his campaign, Merz committed to enhancing Germany's role on the European stage; however, his recent initial failure to secure a majority vote in the Bundestag has highlighted his relative political weakness and slim parliamentary majority, which may pose challenges to fulfilling his campaign promises.
