{"id":762348,"date":"2026-02-13T18:51:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T18:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/762348\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T18:51:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T18:51:10","slug":"germany-issues-warning-to-united-states-amid-deep-rift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/762348\/","title":{"rendered":"Germany Issues Warning to United States Amid ‘Deep Rift’"},"content":{"rendered":"

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz<\/a> has warned of \u201ca deep rift\u201d between Europe and the United States, arguing that the latter \u201cwill not be powerful enough to go it alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his address at the Munich Security Conference Friday, Merz urged Europe and the U.S. to \u201crepair and revive trans-Atlantic trust together\u201d in what he referred to as an \u201cera of great power rivalry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Switching to English as he addressed American \u201cfriends,\u201d Merz nodded to Trump\u2019s contentious relationship with NATO,<\/a> insisting that \u201cbeing a part of [the alliance] is not only Europe\u2019s competitive advantage. It\u2019s also the United States\u2019 competitive advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he acknowledged that the existing global order has long been flawed, Merz\u2014when discussing the \u201cunder destruction\u201d theme of this year\u2019s conference\u2014argued the \u201cinternational order based on rights and rules is currently being destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also referenced Vice President J.D. Vance\u2019s speech<\/a> from last year\u2019s conference. Vance drew ire from European leaders when he argued that what concerned him most was Europe\u2019s \u201cthreat from within… the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values\u2014values shared with the United States of America.\u201d He used \u201cfree speech\u201d as an example of the values in retreat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe culture war of the MAGA movement is not ours,\u201d Merz continued. \u201cFreedom of speech ends here with us when that speech goes against human dignity and the constitution. We do not believe in tariffs and protectionism, but in free trade.\u201d<\/p>\n

The German leader appeared to make further strides to distinguish Europe from the Trump Administration, adding: \u201cWe stick to climate agreements and the World Health Organization (WHO) because we are convinced that global challenges can only be solved together.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Jan. 22, the U.S., under Trump\u2019s direction, officially pulled out of the WHO. The move has garnered much criticism<\/a> from global health experts.<\/p>\n

TIME has reached out to the White House for comment on Merz’s comments.<\/p>\n

Read More<\/strong>: Trump and Vance May Have Accidentally United Europe<\/a><\/p>\n

As Europe takes part in ongoing negotiations regarding the hope for a cease-fire in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Merz said he has also started private talks with French President Emmanuel Macron about \u201cnuclear deterrence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"62ndFriedrich Merz speaks at the 62nd Munich Security Conference on Feb. 13, 2026. Johannes Simon\u2014Getty Images<\/p>\n

Merz\u2019s concerns echo those made by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in Davos in January. Speaking at the World Economic Forum, Carney argued that the old world order was \u201cnot coming back\u201d and encouraged people not to \u201cmourn\u201d the way things used to be. He accused \u201cgreat powers\u201d of using economic pressure to yield results while urging middle powers to push back.<\/p>\n

Carney\u2019s remarks were delivered shortly after Trump threatened to tariff countries<\/a> who oppose his campaign to annex Greenland<\/a>\u2014a threat he has since walked back. Trump later lashed out in response<\/a> to Carney\u2019s speech.<\/p>\n

Read More<\/strong>: Carney Hits Back at Trump as Relations Sour: \u2018Canada Doesn\u2019t Live Because of the U.S.\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

The U.S. President will not be appearing at the Munich Security Conference. Instead, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will represent the U.S. on Saturday and deliver a highly-anticipated speech.<\/p>\n

Rubio also warned of a \u201cnew era\u201d in geopolitics as he boarded his flight to Germany.<\/p>\n

When asked if his message to Europeans will take a softer approach than Vance\u2019s address last year, Rubio told reporters: \u201cThe world is changing very fast right in front of us. We live in a new era in geopolitics, and it’s going to require all of us to sort of re-examine what that looks like and what our role is going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Friday afternoon, the U.S. Department of State confirmed<\/a> that Rubio and Merz had met in Munich, after the German Chancellor\u2019s speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey discussed pressing global challenges including securing supply chains, advancing efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war, and strengthening the partnership between the United States and Europe,\u201d said a spokesperson. \u201cThe Secretary expressed appreciation for Germany\u2019s strong support for Ukraine, including over $76 billion in assistance since 2022, and discussed continued coordination on reconstruction efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has warned of \u201ca deep rift\u201d between Europe and the United States, arguing that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":762349,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[32,2000,299,1824,28423],"class_list":{"0":"post-762348","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-germany","12":"tag-news-desk"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116064831769104943","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=762348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/762349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=762348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=762348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=762348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}