As European leaders prepared for a combative Munich Security Conference on Friday, Germany’s Friedrich Merz sternly pointed out that the international world order “no longer exists”, one of the few points of agreement between the fractious allies in the Atlantic alliance.
Merz’s speech at the South Germany conference, which brings together officials from around the world to discuss international security and hold diplomatic negotiations, highlighted the widening rift between the United States and Europe.
The German leader of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union has warned that European freedoms “can no longer be taken for granted” in an era when major powers ignore international rules. He condemned Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and called on Europe to invest in strengthening its deterrence capabilities. And he has publicly criticized President Donald Trump’s administration’s policies on tariffs, climate change and the culture war, comments that may upset some in Washington.
But the US government appears to be in sync when it comes to the death of the previous world order.
“Frankly, the old world is over,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said as he departed for Munich on Thursday night. “We live in a new era of geopolitics.”
“We’re all going to have to rethink what that looks like and what our role is going to be,” Rubio added, noting that Europe is important to the United States. “I think they want honesty. They want to know where we’re going, where we want to go, and where we want to go with them.”
The next day, Mertz gave a very honest assessment of the transatlantic relationship.
“A rift has opened between Europe and the United States,” Merz said, lamenting the end of the international world order based on rights and rules.
“America’s leadership claims are being challenged and perhaps lost,” he said.
The German chancellor also offered a sort of rebuttal to the combative speech given by US Vice President J.D. Vance at last year’s conference. Vance’s 2025 remarks slammed European politicians, claiming they are suppressing free speech, losing control over immigration and refusing to cooperate with far-right parties in government.
A year later, Merz fired back: “The MAGA culture war in the United States is not ours. Freedom of speech here (in Germany) ends when the words spoken violate human dignity and our fundamental laws.”
Merz added, “We don’t believe in tariffs or protectionism, we believe in free trade,” which drew loud applause.
“We stand by the climate change agreement and the World Health Organization because we believe that only together can we solve global challenges,” he said, to even more applause.
These comments come after the Trump administration increased tariffs on the European Union and the United Kingdom in 2025 and withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement and the WHO.
The German chancellor then switched to English and issued a sharp warning to the US leader, while also calling for the repair of transatlantic relations.
“In an era of great power competition, even the United States is not strong enough to go it alone,” Mertz warned. “Dear friends, being a member of NATO is not only a competitive advantage for Europe, but also a competitive advantage for the United States.”
In addition to Rubio, Merz is expected to hold bilateral talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at this year’s conference.
The forum comes just weeks after a tense world summit in Davos, Switzerland, where President Trump criticized European leaders on immigration policy and complained that the United States was being taken advantage of by European allies.
CNN’s Sebastian Shukla and Jennifer Hansler contributed to this report.
