Friedrich Merz

Force in Play

Supporting Article 5-like guarantees, considering German troop deployment

Russian, Ukrainian and U.S. negotiators began their first trilateral talks in nine months in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 10 and returned for a second day on Nov. 11. The first day covered humanitarian steps, prisoner exchanges and security guarantees, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it "very productive."

Updated 7 hours ago

Money Moves

Fuel tax cut running through end of 2026

German inflation was confirmed at 2.8% in October, down from 3.3% in September, the Federal Statistical Office said on November 11. The drop came mostly from a fuel tax cut that took effect October 1, though energy prices still rose 12.2% from a year earlier.

Updated 7 hours ago

Built World

In office

Germany's gas stores were 61.2% full on 30 October, short of the 80% the country aims to hold by 1 November. The economy ministry confirmed the miss as a cold snap set in, and the storage industry association said filling rules need to be tougher.

Updated Nov 3

Rule Changes

Co-driving with France the push for a new EU tool against Chinese market distortions; on October 16 struck a car-rules deal with Macron that softens the 2035 emissions target to 90%

In October 2026, the EU and China defused the trade war that Emmanuel Macron threatened in December 2025. The interim deal caps Chinese hybrid and plug-in hybrid car exports to Europe at 350,000 a year for four years. China, in turn, will cut tariffs on €4 billion of European goods from January 2027 and fast-track rare-earth export licences for EU buyers.

Updated Nov 2

Rule Changes

Led the pushback against the associate membership term

The joint declaration issued at the end of the Montreal summit on October 30 does not use the term "associate member." It pledges an "ever closer association" and commits both sides to define it by the 2027 summit. The term was removed after Germany, Italy, France and Greece objected to it in the draft.

Updated Nov 1

Force in Play

Visited Kyiv on Oct. 5, 2026, as Russian strikes escalated on the capital

A Russian jet-powered drone hit the main railway station in Dnipro on October 29, killing at least 13 people and wounding at least 14, including an 11-year-old boy. The drone struck a platform where a train was preparing to leave for Zaporizhzhia; the state rail company, Ukrzaliznytsia, said passengers were on the platform despite a heightened danger warning. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the attack.

Updated Oct 29

Rule Changes

Leads the CDU/CSU-SPD coalition

The higher tobacco duty is on the statute book and, as published, took effect on October 21, 2026, more than two months before the government meant it to start. The Finance Ministry calls the date a drafting error and says the increase belongs on January 1, 2027. A formal correction of the Federal Law Gazette is under way but not yet complete, and customs has been told not to apply the higher rate for now.

Updated Oct 27

Rule Changes

As of September 2026: Deeply unpopular; told CDU the Saxony-Anhalt loss 'shook the party to its very foundations'

For the first time since 1945, a German state is poised to be governed by the far right. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) took 43.8% of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt's September 7 election, nearly an absolute majority. Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democrats trailed at 17.2%.

Updated Sep 7

Force in Play

As of May 2026: Target of Trump's criticism; pushing European defense autonomy

U.S. troops have been stationed in Germany continuously since 1945. On May 1, 2026, the Pentagon ordered roughly 5,000 (about one in seven Americans in Germany) to leave over the next 6 to 12 months, taking a full brigade with them.

Updated May 31

Money Moves

As of May 2026: Leading the largest sustained increase in German defense spending since reunification

Europe's defense budgets jumped 14% last year to $864 billion, the steepest annual rise since the Cold War. Germany alone added 24%, reaching $114 billion and overtaking every other European spender.

Updated May 31

Force in Play

As of May 2026: Attended April 17 Paris summit; diverged from Macron by seeking US involvement in coalition; Germany 'ready to contribute' but prefers UN mandate

Iran shut the Strait of Hormuz on February 28, 2026, after US-Israeli strikes, cutting off roughly a fifth of global oil supply. The US-Iran ceasefire, extended by Trump on April 21, holds formally. But Iran's May 10 counter-proposal demanded Iranian sovereignty over the strait, an end to all US sanctions, and an immediate lifting of the naval blockade. Trump called the response "totally unacceptable," and roughly 1,500 commercial vessels remain trapped inside the Persian Gulf.

Updated May 30

Force in Play

As of May 2026: Delivered opening keynote at Munich

For six decades, the Munich Security Conference is the West's main annual defense gathering. On February 15, 2026, the 62nd edition closed with NATO allies announcing military commitments—including Britain's Operation Firecrest Arctic carrier deployment—as tensions with Washington and Trump's April China visit loom.

Updated May 29

Rule Changes

As of May 2026: Opening Munich Security Conference with keynote address

For seventy-five years, the transatlantic alliance operated on a simple premise: America leads, Europe follows, and collective defense binds them together. That arrangement is being renegotiated: at the Munich Security Conference on February 13, 2026, European leaders gather not to coordinate with Washington but to assess how much they can still count on it.

Updated May 29

Rule Changes

As of May 2026: Called for EU deregulation; pledged Arctic security support

This year's World Economic Forum (the first in 55 years without founder Klaus Schwab) became an emergency diplomatic summit when Trump's tariff threats over Greenland drew record attendance from 60+ heads of state. By week's end, a NATO 'framework deal' had defused the immediate crisis, and Canadian PM Mark Carney declared to applause from European and middle-power leaders that the U.S.-led rules-based order is over.

Updated May 22

Rule Changes

As of May 2026: Concluded first India visit January 13 with 19 bilateral agreements; jointly pushed for EU-India FTA finalization

After 19 years, 14 formal rounds, and a January sprint that defied skeptics, India and the European Union concluded their free trade agreement on January 26, 2026. EU leaders Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa, attending India's Republic Day as chief guests, jointly announced the deal with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 27.

Updated May 20

Rule Changes

As of May 2026: Hosting Berlin talks and a follow-on summit with European leaders

Zelensky just did something he once treated as untouchable: he offered to drop Ukraine's NATO bid. Not as surrender, but as a trade—Kyiv gives up the alliance path, and the West gives Ukraine legally binding protection strong enough to scare Moscow off for good.

Updated May 15

Force in Play

As of May 2026: Key European skeptic of territorial concessions; major arms supplier to Ukraine

In early 2025, Trump launched an aggressive push to "end the war" in Ukraine. He tied resumed military aid and intelligence sharing to Kyiv's acceptance of a U.S.-drafted peace framework that includes territorial concessions to Russia and long-term limits on Ukraine's sovereignty.

Updated May 10