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Friedrich Merz, whose conservative party is ahead in polls before Sunday’s election, sees an “epochal rupture” with a United States that is more aligned with Russia.
Steven Erlanger, the chief diplomatic correspondent for Europe, reported from Berlin.
Published Feb. 20, 2025Updated Feb. 23, 2025, 11:14 a.m. ET
Friedrich Merz, the man favored to be Germany’s next chancellor after elections on Sunday, is a conservative businessman who has never been a government minister and was forced out of party leadership years ago for challenging Angela Merkel.
As a Christian Democrat and committed trans-Atlanticist, he has been considered a potentially better match for President Trump than the current Social Democratic chancellor, Olaf Scholz. He is also expected to lead a foreign policy more aligned with Mr. Trump’s ideas about Europe’s taking responsibility for its own defense.
But recent comments by Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance have displayed just how difficult any partnership may be with a United States that is less reliable and possibly hostile, and sympathetic to Russia’s narrative on Ukraine and spheres of influence.
That challenge is especially profound for Germany, and after Sunday is likely to fall on Mr. Merz, 69, who is known to be assertive and direct, if a bit awkward.
He pushed back strongly against Mr. Trump’s latest comments siding with Russia, as well as what was seen as interference in Germany’s election by Mr. Vance when he criticized Europe for sidelining far-right parties at the Munich Security Conference last week.
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