\u201cI am a great admirer of America,\u201d Merz added, drawing laughter from the crowd, \u201cbut right now my admiration is not increasing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The comments emphasize the growing rift between Berlin and Washington after weeks of public clashes between Merz and President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
The German leader \u2014 who previously headed the Atlantik-Br\u00fccke<\/a>, an influential network that promotes U.S.-German ties \u2014 told schoolchildren<\/a> on April 28 that the American president had been \u201chumiliated\u201d by Iran and lacked a coherent strategy for the war that broke out in late February<\/a> following joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iranian targets.<\/p>\n Three days later, on May 1, the Pentagon, following through on an earlier threat by Trump, announced it would withdraw 5,000 U.S. troops<\/a> from Germany.<\/p>\n Despite the tensions, Merz wrote on X<\/a> on Friday that he had \u201ca good phone call\u201d with Trump \u2014 the first since the two had publicly clashed \u2014 stressing afterward that \u201cthe U.S. and Germany are strong partners in a strong NATO.\u201d<\/p>\n Berlin has also turned down<\/a> U.S. pleas for NATO to become directly involved in the Iran war, insisting \u201cit is not NATO\u2019s war\u201d while leaving open only a limited role for German minesweepers<\/a> in the Strait of Hormuz once fighting ends.<\/p>\n The Trump administration, however, has its own view of Europe\u2019s political climate. <\/p>\n