The era of unconditional friendship between Europe and the United States has officially come to an end. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz acknowledged a deep crisis in relations with Donald Trump’s administration. Speaking to party colleagues in Berlin, Friedrich Merz said Washington has radically misjudged the value of the transatlantic alliance and that blind trust in overseas partners is no longer possible.
The chancellor’s remarks came amid a new round of geopolitical tensions. This week, Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney agreed to make his country an “associate member” of the EU. In response, Trump immediately threatened to slap the euro bloc with tough new tariffs. Fuel was also added to the fire by the US president’s recent praise for Germany’s far‑right Alternative for Germany party, whose success in regional elections has caused political upheaval in the country.
Relations between Berlin and Washington have deteriorated rapidly since spring. In April, Merz unwisely said that US diplomats were being “humiliated” in talks over Iran. In reply, Trump ordered the withdrawal of 5,000 US troops from Germany. The current chancellor is left echoing comments once made by Angela Merkel, who warned during Trump’s first term in 2017 that the reliable postwar ties with the US were a thing of the past.