Friedrich Merz has advised young Germans not to move to the US, risking deepening a row with Donald Trump.
The German chancellor said his admiration of the US was “not increasing” in the latest of a string of barbs traded with the US president since the war in Iran broke out.
Mr Merz was applauded on Friday at a gathering of German Catholics in the southern city of Würzburg, in Bavaria, when he said: “I would not recommend to my children today that they go to the US to get an education and to work.”
He mentioned “the social climate that has suddenly developed” in the US and claimed that “even the best educated in America have great difficulty in finding a job.”
Mr Merz added: “I am a great admirer of America’s, but right now my admiration is not increasing.”
Last month, the chancellor said Iran was “humiliating” the US at the negotiating table and accused Washington of having no exit plan to end the war.
Trump: Merz doing a ‘terrible’ job
In response, a furious Mr Trump abruptly announced the withdrawal of 5,000 troops from bases in Germany and said Mr Merz was doing a “terrible” job as leader.
Mr Merz’s criticism of the US economy in his latest jibe may have been a response to Mr Trump’s scathing rebuke of his handling of Germany’s slowing economy.
“No wonder Germany is doing so poorly, both economically, and otherwise!,” the US president had written on Truth Social.
Mr Merz’s comments about the humiliation of the US by a “skilful” Iran were made to a group of students in Marsberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, last month but made international headlines.
A European diplomat in Berlin said: “Merz speaks candidly in informal settings and then spends days managing the fallout.”
Mr Merz had initially been one of the EU’s most supportive leaders of the US-Israeli war but as the conflict dragged on, and prices rose, he became far more critical.
Soaring costs have jeopardised his plan to reboot the economy by tearing up strict German fiscal rules in an attempt to buy his way to growth.
Later on Friday, Mr Merz suggested tensions with Mr Trump appeared to have eased somewhat after a discussion between the two leaders. Mr Merz said he had a “good phone call” with the president and suggested the two were aligned on Iran policy.
“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,” he wrote on X.
Mr Trump’s threats to annex Greenland, his undermining of Nato and his cutting back on support for Ukraine have estranged European allies.
Mr Merz was also angry that senior Maga figures endorsed the hard-Right Alternative For Germany before last year’s elections, which he ultimately won.
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