German Chancellor Friedrich Merz had some harsh commentary for the United States amid President Donald Trump’s second term on Friday, stating that he wouldn’t recommend his own children to travel to the U.S.
“I would not advise my children today to go to the U.S., get educated there or work there, simply because a certain social climate has suddenly developed there,” Merz said during a discussion at a Catholic gathering in Würzburg, The Guardian reports.
Merz’s criticism comes a month after Trump blasted him for claiming that Iran’s leadership was humiliating the U.S. during negotiations over the war.
Sascha Schuermann / AFP via Getty Images)
The U.S. president responded to the German leader at the time on Truth Social, saying that Merz “doesn’t know what he’s talking about!”
“No wonder Germany is doing so poorly, both Economically, and otherwise!” Trump wrote in April.
Merz told the crowd in Würzburg a month later, “I am a great admirer of America. At the moment my admiration is not growing.”
He noted, “Today, even the best-educated people in America are finding it very hard to get a job,” Merz said.
While the U.S. job market did better than economists expected in April, the number of people in the U.S. labor force dropped, and the labor force participation rate sank to 61.8%, the lowest since October of 2021.
When asked whether “Americans’ financial situations are motivating” him to strike a deal and end his unpopular war in Iran, Trump responded, “Not even a little bit.”
“The only thing that matters when I’m talking about Iran, they can’t have a nuclear weapon,” the U.S. president said.
Merz told the audience on Friday, “I firmly believe that there are few countries in the world that offer such great opportunities, especially for young people, as Germany.”
The chancellor’s comments also came the same day he said he had a “great phone call with” Trump, in which they agreed the Strait of Hormuz must be opened and Tehran must not have nuclear weapons.
Richard Grenell, Trump’s former acting director of national intelligence, slammed the chancellor’s remarks, claiming he “has become the European President of the TDS Society.”
TDS refers to “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” a term that does not represent a real medical diagnosis, but a made-up phrase used to attack critics of the president.
“When he sat with Donald Trump at the White House, however, he was completely soft and complimentary,” Grenell said. “Germans have a leader who has no strategy — and is completely controlled by the German woke media.”