On his first full day in office, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz lashed out at the Trump administration for raising concerns about the state of democracy in the European nation following the green light to spy on the opposition AfD party.
Chancellor Merz, the leader of the supposedly centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), formerly headed up by Angela Merkel, was finally sworn into office on Tuesday following months of wrangling with the election-losing Social Democrats (SPD) to form a coalition government with the left-wing party after having ruled out a partnership with the populist-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
In his first interview after ascending to power, Merz addressed the brewing dispute between Berlin and Washington, including the trade dispute and critiques levied by top Trump administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio over Germany’s draconian speech codes and the move to classify the AfD as a “right-wing extremist” party over its stance against mass migration from predominantly Islamic nations. The decision means that spy agencies will be granted additional powers to surveil the second-largest party in the German parliament and the official opposition to Merz’s government.
Last week, Vice President Vance compared the move to the Soviet Union, while Secretary Rubio said that the move was antithetical to democracy, saying that it represented “tyranny in disguise” and added that the only extremism in Brelin was the establishment’s devotion to mass migration.
Responding on Wednesday, Chancellor Merz said per Die Welt that such assertions were “absurd,” adding: “I’ve actually always had the feeling that America could distinguish very clearly between extremist parties and politically centrist parties.”
“I didn’t interfere in the American election campaign or unilaterally take sides with one or the other,” Merz continued, arguing that, therefore, the United States government should refrain from commenting on the domestic politics of Germany.
Following his party’s narrow victory in the February federal elections, Merz accused the Trump White House of election interference, saying that the “interventions from Washington were no less drastic, dramatic, and ultimately no less brazen, than the intervention that we have seen from Moscow.”
The Chancellor has previously threatened to use “political” or “legal” tools to take on American entrepreneur and Trump ally Elon Musk, who was an outspoken supporter of the AfD on his X social media platform.
On Wednesday, Merz also took a hard line on the trade dispute between the EU and the United States, vowing to represent European interests in upcoming talks with President Trump.
“As Europeans, we have something to offer, together we are even bigger than the United States of America,” he said. “We can do something, we are closed, largely anyway… That will be my message to the American government.“
However, it remains to be seen how strong of a footing Merz will have in Berlin. Indeed, the fledgling chancellor suffered a historic defeat on Tuesday during a vote in the Bundestag parliament to officially install him as the country’s leader.
While Merz was approved in a second round of voting later that day, the defeat suggests that there are members of his party or within his coalition partner, the Social Democrats, who are willing to defy the chancellor.
Merz may also face challenges from the business community in Germany to seek a swift agreement with the Trump administration, given the poor state of the economy, particularly in sectors such as the automotive industry, which has been a particular target of President Trump.
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