Administration

Trump’s war of words with Friedrich Merz takes toll on US-German relationship

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by Mallory Wilson - 05/03/26 6:00 AM ET

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by Mallory Wilson - 05/03/26 6:00 AM ET

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President Trump has repeatedly attacked German Chancellor Friedrich Merz for comments he made about the U.S. role in the Iran war, targeting a leader who has worked hard to be in the president’s good graces and a country considered to be one of the U.S.’s strongest allies.

The comments escalate Trump’s attacks on European nations that have not volunteered to back the U.S. in the conflict, which is unpopular in Europe and has taken a heavy economic toll on Germany and other countries by driving up energy costs.

The war itself is dragging on Trump’s popularity, while creating a conundrum for Republicans in a midterm election year by exacerbating voter concerns about the economy.

Merz had cultivated a positive relationship before this past week’s turn, and experts said he likely didn’t mean to cause a spat that has appeared to weaken any ties he has — or hopes to have — with the U.S. leader by speaking of the U.S. being “humiliated” by Iran.

“I think Merz let his guard down by making those comments in a supposedly private setting at an already extremely tense moment in transatlantic relations, especially over the conflict,” said Jörn Fleck, senior director with the Europe Center at the Atlantic Council.

“I think he undercut a lot of progress he had made, personally, in stabilizing the relationship with President Trump and the relationship between the United States and Germany more broadly,” he added.

It is not surprising that Trump was annoyed by Merz’s comments to a group of students in Germany. Merz essentially suggested that Iran was defeating the Trump administration at the negotiating table.

“The Iranians are obviously very skilled at negotiating, or rather, very skillful at not negotiating, letting the Americans travel to Islamabad and then leave again without any result,” Merz said during a talk to students in the German town of Marsberg, Reuters reported.

“An entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards. And so, I hope that this ends as quickly as possible,” he added.

Those last comments almost certainly reflect the views of many political leaders not only in Germany, but in France, Italy and Great Britain given the cost the war has had on Europe. That continent depends more than the U.S. on oil transported through the Strait of Hormuz.

Fleck noted that Merz was talking about “what a number of European leaders and the public are concerned about.”

Trump has made it clear he did not appreciate the comments and that it could cost the German leader. He’s lashed out at Merz in multiple social media posts throughout the week, saying Merz thinks Iran should be able to have a nuclear weapon and that he should be “fixing his broken Country” rather than weighing in on the Iran war.

Merz, for his part, said Wednesday that his relationship with Trump “remains good.”

“From my perspective, my personal relationship with the U.S. president remains good,” Merz told reporters, according to Reuters. “I simply had doubts from the start about what was begun with the war in Iran. That is why I have made that clear.”

He also brought up the economic toll that the Iran war is having on the world amid the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. The critical passageway once saw roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply flow through it, but since the closure, little oil has come out of the area, driving up prices.

“This has a direct impact on our energy supply and a huge impact on our economic performance,” Merz said, according to Reuters.

Liana Fix, senior fellow for Europe at the Council on Foreign Relations, said German officials were surprised at Trump’s comments against Germany.

“I think certainly many German officials were surprised, because Germany is, in many ways, or has been, a very model ally,” Fix said. “Germany is actually doing a lot, and it’s in a really good position right now. So, I think it was not expecting that backlash.”

Trump directed the Pentagon on Friday to withdraw roughly 5,000 U.S. service members from Germany over his feud with Merz. That move received backlash from the chairs of both the House and Senate Armed Services committees.

The redeployment of troops will affect a brigade combat team and potentially other U.S. forces already in Germany, according to a senior Pentagon official.

The realignment comes because “Europeans have not stepped up w