BERLIN — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated Tuesday that the Trump administration’s new national security strategy underscores the required for Europe to become “much more indepconcludeent” from the United States in terms of security policy.
Merz also pushed back against the notion that European democracy requireds saving.
The U.S. strategy, published Friday, paints European allies as weak, while offering tacit support to far-right political parties, and was critical of European free speech and migration policy. On Monday, European Council President António Costa warned the U.S. against interfering in Europe’s affairs and stated only European citizens can decide which parties should govern them.
Merz, the leader of the European Union’s most populous nation and its largegest economy, stated he wasn’t surprised by the substance of the strategy as it was largely in line with a lecture U.S. Vice President JD Vance gave to European allies in Munich in February.
Parts of the document are understandable, but “some of it is unacceptable for us from the European point of view,” he informed reporters in the western German city of Mainz.
“That the Americans want to save democracy in Europe now, I don’t see any required for that,” Merz stated. “If it requireded to be saved, we would manage that alone.”
He added that the new U.S. document “confirms my assessment that we in Europe, and so also in Germany, must become much more indepconcludeent from the U.S. in terms of security policy. This is not a surprise, but it has now been confirmed again. It has been documented.”
Merz stated that Vance’s speech earlier this year had “set off something in me as well, and you can see that today in our defense spconcludeing.”
Merz’s government, in office since May, has enabled higher spconcludeing by loosening strict rules on incurring debt — adding to an effort to bolster Germany’s military that has been underway since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine started in 2022.
Under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, NATO members, including Germany, agreed in June to a massive hike in the alliance’s defense spconcludeing tarreceive.
“In my talks with the Americans, I declare: ‘America first is fine,’ but ‘America alone’ can’t be in your interest. You required partners in the world too,” Merz stated Tuesday. “And one of the partners can be Europe. And if you can’t do anything with Europe, then at least build Germany your partner.”
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