Skip next section Merz-Trump weekend call scheduled amid Hormuz crisis
03/21/2026March 21, 2026Merz-Trump weekend call scheduled amid Hormuz crisis
Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz is due to speak with US President Donald Trump over the weekend amid rising pressure that European NATO allies help the United States to secure the Strait of Hormuz.
The Strait, which is a major chokepoint for global oil trade, has been effectively closed to most shipping since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran.
Speaking at a campaign event for his Christian Democratic Union party (CDU) on Friday in Rhineland Palatinate, where state elections are taking place on Sunday, Merz confirmed he would be speaking to the US leader over the weekend.
Germany has joined several NATO allies in refusing to help patrol Hormuz, insisting that the conflict was started by the US and Israel and is “not NATO’s war.”
Recent reports, however, suggest a softening in tone, with Germany and France, now likely to join military patrols once the fighting has stopped.
Merz, who held bilateral talks with Trump at the White House earlier this month, said he would repeat his invitation for the Republican to visit Germany, including Rhineland-Palatinate, where the US president’s ancestors originated.
https://p.dw.com/p/5AqAH
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Guten Morgen from the banks of the Rhine River in Bonn, western Germany.
Transatlantic ties remain tense this weekend as Germany declines a US request to help to secure the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman that, until recently, carried a fifth of the world’s oil trade.
Iran’s effective closure of Hormuz has sent oil prices skyrocketing, prompting US President Donald Trump to label European NATO allies “cowards” for refusing to help open the Strait while the Iran war continues.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is scheduled to speak to Trump by phone over the weekend, amid a softening in language over the dispute on Friday. Germany and France now say they will join patrols once the fighting has stopped.
In other news, more than 500 suspected right-wing extremists are wanted in Germany on outstanding arrest warrants, according to a local media outlet.
And in Germany’s “super election” year, it’s the turn of Rhineland-Palatinate to vote in state elections on Sunday — one of five being held in 2026.
https://p.dw.com/p/5Aq95