US Vice President JD Vance has extended Washington’s congratulations to Friedrich Merz on his election as Germany’s new chancellor.
“I know that we’ll have a conversation with him in the next couple of days,” Vance said at an event in Washington.
Earlier, while en route to Paris, Merz had said he currently has no concrete plans for a trip to the United States, but added that he hoped to have details on a trip organized soon. He is due to speak to US President Trump on Thursday.
In the meantime, he said he would be discussing German policy towards the United States with French President Emmanuel Macron, saying the pair would “try to coordinate how to approach [the US] together.”
In February, Vance had caused consternation at the Munich Security Conference in Germany when he declared that “free speech” was “in retreat” across Europe.
On Wednesday, Vance elaborated that his comments were not meant to imply “Europe bad, America good,” but that both Europe and the United States under [former President] Biden had gone “a bit off track” when it came to protecting what he considers “free speech.”
“I do still very much think the US and Europe are on the same team,” he said. “I still think that this European alliance is very important, but I think that for it to be important and for us to be real friends with each other, we’ve got to talk about the big questions.”
“European culture and American culture are very much linked and they’re always going to be linked,” he continued. “I think it’s completely ridiculous to think that you’re ever going to be able to drive a wedge between the United States and Europe.”
