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Why Friedrich Merz decided to risk Donald Trump’s wrath | Jörg Lau | Collector
Why Friedrich Merz decided to risk Donald Trump’s wrath | Jörg Lau
The Guardian

Why Friedrich Merz decided to risk Donald Trump’s wrath | Jörg Lau

The US president’s retribution will be painful for Germany and Nato, but it makes crystal clear just why Europe’s reliance on the US is untenable What began as a spat between Friedrich Merz and Donald Trump over the Iran war is rapidly turning into a historic rupture between Germany and the US. Its significance is hard to overstate. In Germany, the transatlantic falling-out adds to the domestic woes of a coalition government in crisis, overshadowing the first anniversary of Merz’s becoming chancellor tomorrow. More importantly, it proves the futility of Merz’s attempt to be Europe’s Trump-whisperer and puts Nato’s credibility into question. But the dispute also boosts the ambition that Germany’s conservative leader set out on the night of his party’s election victory: to make Europe more independent from the US security umbrella. Jörg Lau is an international correspondent for the German weekly Die Zeit Continue reading...

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