Merz, in his television interview, called this comment as an “absurd observation” and suggested that he could choose to raise the question during a planned call with American president Donald Trump on Thursday.
When asked if he would take care of Trump using charm or direct conversation, Merz said that he would openly represent “German and European positions.
“Together, we are even larger than the United States,” said Merz, speaking of the European Union. “The number of consumers here is higher than in America and combined Canada. So we have something to offer here. We can do something. We are united, to a large extent anyway, and it will be my message to the American government. ”
Merz said he would meet Trump in person for the first time at the NATO summit in The Hague in June at the latest. In order to coordinate a common European defense strategy before this meeting, Merz is Traveling to Paris and Warsaw Wednesday to meet his counterparts.
During his campaign, Merz promised that Germany, under his direction, would play a more important role on the European scene. But an embarrassing initial failure To become chancellor Tuesday in the Bundestag, underlined its relative political weakness and its thin parliamentary majority at home, potentially hampering its ability to follow its campaign promises.