Chancellor says he no longer views US as land of opportunity amid ‘deeply polarising’ social climate
Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, already embroiled in a row with Donald Trump over the Iran war, has said he would not advise his children to study or work in the US in the current climate.
Speaking to a conference of young Catholics in Würzburg, the conservative leader, viewed by many as a transatlanticist, said he no longer saw the US as the land of opportunity.
“I am a great admirer of America. At the moment my admiration is not growing,” he said during a podium discussion, citing the quickly changing “social climate” in the deeply polarised country.
“I would not advise my children today to go to the US, get educated there or work there, simply because a certain social climate has suddenly developed there.”
