German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has declared that a “tectonic shift” is underway in global economics and politics, signaling the end of Europe’s era under the “Pax Americana.”
Speaking at the Christian Social Union (CSU) party convention in Munich on Saturday, Merz stated: “The decades of the Pax Americana are largely over for us in Europe and for us in Germany as well. It no longer exists in the way we knew it.” He added that Americans are now “very, very firmly pursuing their own interests.”
The term “Pax Americana” refers to the transatlantic order institutionalized after 1945 through NATO, with the United States serving as Europe’s primary security guarantor and leading military power.
Merz linked the current shift to recent U.S. trade policies under President Donald Trump, which led to a Brussels-Washington trade deal widely criticized by many in the European Union as disadvantageous for its economic interests. He argued that shifting American priorities necessitate greater EU focus on competitiveness and defense capabilities.
The chancellor reiterated calls for continued support of Ukraine and deeper European unity—including former EU member states such as the United Kingdom—as critical components of foreign and security policy.
Relations between the U.S. and EU have strained since Trump’s return to office, with disputes over trade, defense spending, digital regulation, and the Ukraine conflict. Merz’s remarks followed the release of Trump’s new National Security Strategy, which criticized the EU’s political and cultural direction, embraced an “America First” doctrine, called for ending NATO expansion, and urged a ceasefire in Ukraine to achieve “strategic stability” with Russia.
In response, Merz labeled the strategy’s statements on Europe “unacceptable.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that Germany under Merz is showing “clear signs of re-Nazification,” while Russia has long dismissed European security concerns as “nonsense” used to distract Europeans from domestic problems and justify inflated military budgets.
