Germany is getting tough on Trump. Here’s why

NewsWorldEuropeAnalysisGermany is getting tough on Trump. Here’s whyFriedrich Merz calling out Trump’s foreign policy is an effort to get the US president to think less about Vladimir Putin and protect America’s allies, explains world affairs editor Sam KileyFriday 01 May 2026 13:27 BSTBookmarkCommentsGo to commentsBookmark popoverRemoved from bookmarksClose popover{"translations":{"comments":"Go to comments","share":"Share","copyLink":"Copy link","bookmark":"Bookmark","removeBookmark":"Remove bookmark"},"showComments":true,"showBookmark":true,"articleId":"b2968816","articleMeta":{"url":"https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/trump-merz-germany-nato-europe-b2968816.html","title":"Germany is getting tough on Trump. Here’s why"},"popoverPlacementOverride":"bottom"}CloseTrump reacts to King's Nato pleas to CongressOn The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly international news dispatchEmail*SIGN UPI would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice{"className":"sc-1ge0fwe-0","newsletterData":{"regSourceNewsletter":"IND_On_The_Ground_Newsletter","regTitle":"On The Ground","subscriptionGroup":"on_the_ground","subscriptionGroupId":"14806361-6435-4d19-b06e-05326605fb01","pathPrefix":["/news/world/europe","/news/world/middle-east","/news/world/australasia","/news/world/africa","/asia"],"associatedAuthors":["Bel Trew","Sam Kiley"],"title":"On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents","mobileTitle":"Get a weekly international news dispatch","lengthenedMobileTitle":"Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents","imageSrc":"https://static.independent.co.uk/static-assets/images/newsletters/onTheGround1_1.png","newsletterKey":"receiveOnTheGround","regSourceSection":"Europe","regSourceMethod":"NSCs"}}The US president and the German chancellor have locke...