Merz calls on US and Europe to ‘repair and revive transatlantic trust together’

MUNICH (AP) — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday called on the United States and Europe to “repair and revive transatlantic trust together,” arguing that even the United States is not strong enough to do it alone in an increasingly difficult world.

Merz called for a “new transatlantic partnership,” acknowledging a “deep division and rift” across the Atlantic as he opened the Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering of top global security figures including several European leaders and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

At last year’s conference, held just weeks into US President Donald Trump’s second term, Vice President J.D. Vance surprised European leaders by lecturing them on the state of democracy and free expression on the continent — a moment that set the tone for the past year.

That was followed by a series of statements and moves from the Trump administration targeting allies, including Trump’s threat last month to impose new tariffs on several European countries in an attempt to secure American control over Greenland, a semi-autonomous region of NATO ally Denmark. The president later dropped this threat.

“Stronger together”

“The culture war that the MAGA movement is waging in the United States is not our war,” Mears said. He added, “Freedom of speech ends here when this word turns against human dignity and the constitution. We do not believe in customs duties and protectionism, but rather in free trade.”

He added that Europe will stand by the climate agreements and the World Health Organization “because we are convinced that we will only be able to solve global tasks together.”

Read more: NATO allies focus on Europe while Hegseth and Rubio miss meetings

But Merz said Europe and the United States must conclude that we are “stronger together” in today’s world. He said that the post-World War II world order, “although imperfect in its best times, no longer exists” today.

He added: “In an era of great power competition, even the United States will not be strong enough to go it alone.” “Dear friends, being part of NATO is not only a competitive advantage for Europe. It is also a competitive advantage for the United States, so let us repair and revive transatlantic trust together.”

Merz said the Europeans are doing their part.

A ‘shift in mentality’ in Europe

Since last year’s Munich conference, NATO allies, under pressure from Trump, have agreed to a significant increase in their defense spending target.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that there is a “shift in mentality”, where “Europe is really moving forward, Europe is assuming a greater leadership role within NATO, and Europe is more interested in defending itself.”

With Rubio heading the US delegation this year, European leaders can hope for a less controversial approach and more focused on traditional global security concerns.

Introducing Merz, conference chair Wolfgang Ischinger asked: “Does the Trump administration really believe it needs allies and partners, and if so… is Washington really prepared to treat allies as partners?”

Before leaving for Germany on Thursday, Rubio offered some reassuring words when he described Europe as important to Americans.

“We are very closely linked to Europe,” he told reporters. “Most people in this country can trace both things, either their cultural heritage or their personal heritage, to Europe. So, we just have to talk about it.”

But Rubio made it clear that it will not be business as it was before, saying: “We are living in a new era in geopolitics, and it will require all of us to reconsider what that looks like.”

Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the United Nations, told the conference that the United States had been bearing the financial burden of multilateralism for too long, and that the Europeans needed to do more.

“There is a cost to the status quo, and the status quo is not sustainable anymore,” Waltz said.

Merz said Europe’s “over-reliance” on the United States was its fault, but it was ignoring it. He added: “We will not do this by writing off NATO, but rather we will do so by building a strong, self-supporting European pillar in the alliance, for our own good.”

Read more: New revelations from the Epstein files are taking a toll across Europe

He acknowledged that Europe and the United States will likely have to reconcile differences in the future more than in the past, but “if we do so with new strength, respect and self-respect, it is in the interest of both sides.”

Rubio arrived in Munich on Friday. Merz and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met separately on the sidelines of the conference, and also had a scheduled meeting with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens Frederik Nielsen. He is scheduled to address the conference on Saturday morning.

Molson reported from Berlin. Associated Press reporter Claudia Ciobanu in Warsaw, Poland, contributed to this report.