Friedrich Mertz: “I would not recommend my children to live in the USA”

Speaking to students in the city of Würzburg today (Friday), the chancellor said that “I would not recommend my children to move to the United States right now”, given the “social climate that is developing there”. “I’m a big fan of the United States, but my admiration for it isn’t exactly growing right now,” Meretz joked to the laughter of the audience.

Earlier this month, during a meeting with school students, Martz claimed that Iran had “humiliated” the United States. The comments infuriated Trump, who reacted sharply and claimed that the German chancellor is “completely ineffective” and that he should focus on “fixing his broken country”. Shortly after, Trump announced the withdrawal of 5,000 American soldiers from Germany. This withdrawal included, among other things, the departure of an American battalion equipped with long-range cruise missiles of the “Tomahawk” type, a step that left a real gap in Europe’s ability to deter against Russia.

The murky relationship between the two leaders further worsened this month, when Trump threatened to impose higher tariffs on European cars, a move that is expected to severely damage the German economy.

Since then it seems that Mertz is trying to straighten the generations. On Friday, he posted on the X social network that he had a “good phone conversation” with President Trump, who made his way back from a tour of China. The chancellor stated that he agreed with the American president that Iran should open the Strait of Hormuz, and that “it must not be allowed to possess nuclear weapons.” Mertz added: “We also discussed a peaceful solution in Ukraine and coordinated positions ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara. The United States and Germany are strong partners within a strong NATO alliance.”

In a televised interview he gave last week, the chancellor emphasized that he “will remain committed to maintaining good transatlantic relations”, but hastened to state that “a good partnership must also know how to face differences of opinion”.

The publicized confrontation with Trump did not give March many points among voters at home. According to public opinion polls published by foreign news agencies, Mertz appears to be the least popular German chancellor since 1997, when only 16 percent of respondents expressed satisfaction with his performance. The public dissatisfaction is largely due to the faltering economy and a significant decline in the quality of social services in the country, despite a policy of aggressive debt-based infusion of funds, which was intended to restore the army and repair the crumbling infrastructure throughout Germany.