"A rift has opened up between Europe and the United States. Vice President JD Vance said this very openly here in Munich a year ago," Merz said. "He was right. The culture war of the MAGA movement is not ours," Merz said, referring to US President Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan. "Freedom of speech ends here with us when that speech goes against human dignity and the constitution. We do not believe in tariffs and protectionism, but in free trade."
Germany and the European Union must fundamentally rethink their relationship with the United States, the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) advocates, as President Donald Trump's approach to international affairs raises doubts about the US's reliability as a partner and ally. The SPD, the junior coalition member in Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative-led government, argues in a policy paper set to be adopted by the party executive board that Germany must carry out a realistic reassessment of the trans-Atlantic relationship.
DAVOS, Switzerland It was among the most volatile weeks for trans-Atlantic relations in recent history, marked by a series of disruptive statements from President Trump that unsettled global markets and strained relations with some of America's closest allies on topics that ranged from Greenland to Gaza. The diplomatic whiplash was on full display in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, where the annual World Economic Forum unfolded against the backdrop of growing uncertainty about America's role as a global leader among Western democracies.
