German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and U.S. President Donald Trump had planned talks for September 8, but the conversation was unexpectedly postponed to a date that has yet to be determined. No official reason has been given yet, reports UNN, citing Bild.
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German government spokesman Stefan Cornelius, however, made it clear that the matter was not simply a scheduling conflict.
The possible reason is the White House's reaction to the victory of the Alternative for Germany party in regional elections, BILD's editors suggest. Trump congratulated the AfD on its success — Merz's political opponents. The U.S. president wrote on Truth Social: "Wow, the populist party in Germany had a really big night." Trump added the abbreviation "MGGA!!!" — evidently by analogy with his famous "Make America Great Again," meaning "Make Germany Great Again." Trump did not name the AfD directly, but wrote: "They are on the rise."
When asked whether the postponement of the conversation was connected with Trump's post, Cornelius declined to comment. He merely referred to the position Merz had already clearly expressed several times: the chancellor had repeatedly stated, "in an abstract form," that "interference or comments regarding the domestic political situation in Germany, especially in connection with elections," were "unacceptable" to him.
SPD demands a response to the U.S. president's remarks
The SPD is putting additional pressure on Merz. Dirk Wiese, the party's parliamentary group leader in the Bundestag, demanded a clear reaction from the federal government to Trump's remarks. "We need to talk openly about this. Such interference is unacceptable. I think we [...] cannot put up with this," Wiese said.
Wiese even drew a comparison: what would happen if the German government celebrated a Democrat's victory in a gubernatorial election in the United States? "I think Truth Social would be shaking from the reaction of the U.S. president," he replied to his own question.
The publication notes that Merz and Trump's conversation was supposed to concern an entirely different matter: the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. According to Cornelius, it is important to the chancellor that the United States can continue to count on the full solidarity of Germany and Europe.