But the angry quarrel was a pre-planned ambush by the Americans, claimed Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germany’s conservatives and almost certainly the country’s next chancellor after his party won a majority in last month’s national election.
“In my opinion, it was not a spontaneous reaction to what Zelenskyy was saying, but obviously a deliberate escalation in this meeting in the Oval Office,” Merz said, according to German media.
“What we have just seen in Washington has a certain continuity with a number of events in the last few weeks, including the appearance of the American delegation in Munich at the security conference,” he added.
The German politician seemed to be referring to Vance’s fiery speech at the Munich Security Conference last month, in which he called on Europe to “step up” and manage its own defense instead of relying on American security guarantees.
Still, Merz said he was “somewhat surprised” by the acrimonious White House exchange and added the “mutual tone” was “not helpful.”
The most important thing was “that we do everything we can to keep the Americans in Europe,” he said. Trump and his defense chief Pete Hegseth have warned that Europe can no longer rely on the post-war transatlantic alliance or on American troops staying on the continent to guarantee security.
Merz was one of dozens of European leaders to reaffirm their support for Zelenskyy after the bruising on-camera quarrel with Trump and to call for Europe to take a greater role in supporting Ukraine in the event of a vacuum left by the U.S.
“Dear Volodymyr, we stand with Ukraine in good and in testing times. We must never confuse aggressor and victim in this terrible war,” Merz wrote on X.
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