US ‘not powerful enough to go it alone’, Merz tells Munich conference

The US acting alone has reached the limits of its power and may already have lost its role as global leader, Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, warned Donald Trump at the opening of the Munich Security Conference.Merz also disclosed he had held initial talks with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, over the possibility of joining France’s nuclear umbrella, underlining his call for Europe to develop a stronger self-standing security strategy.In a speech on Friday designed to set a firm yet conciliatory tone about the future of the transatlantic partnership, Merz argued the old order had ended and in this new age of superpowers even the US was reaching the limits of going it alone.Referring to those that warned the international rules-based order was about to be destroyed, Merz said: “I fear we must put it even more bluntly. This order, however imperfect it was even at its best, no longer exists in that form.”Switching to English to ram home his message, Merz said: “In the era of great power rivalry, even the United States will not be powerful enough to go it alone. Dear friends, being a part of Nato is not only Europe’s competitive advantage. It is also the United States’ competitive advantage.”“So let’s repair and revive transatlantic trust together,” he added.The German chancellor’s speech opened the annual gathering of top global security figures including many European leaders and the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio.At last year’s conference, held a few weeks into Trump’s second term, the US vice-president, JD Vance, stunned European leaders by lecturing them about the state of democracy and freedom of speech on the continent – a moment that set the tone for the last year.The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, met Friedrich Merz at a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the conference. Photograph: Liesa Johannssen/AFP/GettyA series of statements and moves from the Trump administration targeting allies has followed, including Trump’s threat last month to impose new tariffs on several European countries in a move to secure US control of Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, a Nato ally.Merz drew most applause from an audience brimming with hostility toward US unilateralism when he directly criticised the current American administration, saying: “The culture war of the Maga movement is not ours. Freedom of speech ends here with us when that speech is directed against human dignity and the basic law. We do not believe in tariffs and protectionism, but in free trade. We stand by climate agreements and the World Health Organization.”“In the age of great powers, our freedom is no longer a given. It is threatened,” he said, adding that “firmness and will power will be needed to assert this freedom”. Challenging Trump’s unilateral style, Merz added: “Autocracies may have followers, democracies have partners and allies.”2:06