German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he wouldn’t recommend his children work in the United States due to its “social climate,” a comment which risks further angering President Donald Trump.
Merz has drawn the wrath of Trump over the past few weeks over several negative remarks he’s made about the U.S., including that Iran was “humiliating” Washington. He took another swipe at the U.S. at a Catholic Congress in Wurzburg, Germany, saying that American society was deteriorating.
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“I am a great admirer of America,” he said. “My admiration isn’t growing at the moment. So, I wouldn’t recommend to my children today that they go to the U.S., get an education there, and work there. Simply because of a social climate that has suddenly developed there.
“By the way, the question of what well-educated young people can achieve used to be answered very differently in America up until a year ago than it is today,” Merz said. “Today, the best-educated in America have great difficulty finding a job.”
News of the comments could torpedo the goodwill cultivated through a phone call he had with Trump on the president’s flight back from China, which he posted about on X.
“I had a good phone call with @POTUS Donald Trump on his way back from China,” Merz said after the call. “We agree: Iran must come to the negotiating table now. It must open the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran must not be allowed to have nuclear weapons. We also discussed a peaceful solution for Ukraine and coordinated our positions ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara. The U.S. and Germany are strong partners in a strong NATO.”
Merz’s comments about Iran “humiliating” the U.S. triggered a crisis in relations, culminating in the U.S. withdrawing 5,000 troops from Germany.
“The Iranians are obviously very skilled at negotiating, or rather, very skillful at not negotiating, letting the Americans travel to Islamabad and then leave again without any result,” he told pupils at Carolus-Magnus-Gymnasium in Marsberg, Germany, late last month. “An entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards.”
Trump quickly responded on Truth Social, insulting his job as chancellor.
US TO CUT 5,000 TROOPS FROM GERMANY AMID TRUMP FEUD WITH MERZ
“The Chancellor of Germany should spend more time on ending the war with Russia/Ukraine (Where he has been totally ineffective!), and fixing his broken Country, especially Immigration and Energy, and less time on interfering with those that are getting rid of the Iran Nuclear threat, thereby making the World, including Germany, a safer place!” Trump wrote.
He would follow up with several more critical posts about Merz, but the president’s punditry had slowed down in recent days. Merz’s new insult is likely to reignite Trump’s fury.
