Friedrich Merz, the new German chancellor, criticized the Trump administration for “meddling” in the country's politics after several Cabinet members praised an opposition party.
The leader of the center-right Christian Democratic Union, Merz was elected chancellor Tuesday during a second vote in parliament, hours after he suffered a historic defeat in the first round.
In some of his first remarks as Germany’s leader, Merz slammed the United States for speaking out during the election season in favor of the Alternative for Germany, a right-wing party known as AfD that has been a thorn in his side.
“I did not interfere in the American election campaign and take sides for one or the other,” Merz said during an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF following his shaky win. “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.”
Merz, who has led CDU since 2022, is seen by AfD and members of the Trump administration as having ceded too much ground on matters of immigration and free speech and not doing enough to boost the German economy and defense capacity. His comments condemning the U.S. come after Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk expressed support for AfD during the recent elections and condemned Germany for recently designating the party as an extremist group. Germany’s domestic intelligence agency declared AfD was “extremist” shortly after it became the most popular party in the country.
“What is truly extremist is not the popular AfD—which took second in the recent election—but rather the establishment’s deadly open border immigration policies that the AfD opposes,” Rubio wrote in a social media post earlier this month that criticized the policy as “tyranny in disguise.”
Vance backed the post, replying with a message of support: “The AfD is the most popular party in Germany and by far the most representative of East Germany. Now the bureaucrats try to destroy it.”
Musk also weighed in on the matter, suggesting that declaring the AfD an extremist group could lead to Germany being able to ban opposition movements, representing “an extreme attack on democracy.”
Reacting to U.S. support for AfD during his Tuesday interview, Merz said he previously "had the impression that America can distinguish between extremist parties and parties of the political center,” as he accused the Trump administration of now pushing “absurd views of the Federal Republic of Germany.”
He specifically rebutted Rubio’s “tyranny in disguise” accusation, calling it an “absurd observation.” Merz may raise the issue during a phone call scheduled with President Donald Trump on Thursday, he said, during which they “will talk openly with each other."
Amid concerns about Germany’s economy and mass migration levels, the AfD has surged in the polls as it appeals to voters discontent with the country’s two establishment parties: the CDU and the left-wing Social Democratic Party. The AfD caught both of its competitors by surprise when it scored a record level of support in the February federal elections, coming in second with 20.8% of the vote and 152 seats in the 630-seat Bundestag.
After Musk endorsed AfD in December, leading officials in the SDP took aim, condemning him for the “greatest nonsense” and “trying to influence the federal election.”
Both Musk and Vance have included Germany in the realm of European countries they have accused of censoring free speech and allowing mass migration the pair argues is detrimental to societal stability.
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On Tuesday, Merz pushed back on criticisms Europe has faced.
“Together, we are even bigger than the U.S.,” he said, speaking of the European Union. “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.”