BERLIN
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Sunday criticized US President Donald Trump for boycotting this weekend’s G20 summit in South Africa.
“I don’t think it was a good decision on the part of the American government to be absent here. But that’s something the American government has to decide for itself,” Merz told journalists on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Johannesburg.
He added that he was fascinated by how, in his words, “you can see that the world is currently undergoing a realignment and new connections are being formed here.”
Merz said the US played a relatively minor role until the summit’s closing remarks by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who handed over the G20 presidency to the US as the next host in 2026.
“So a lot happened here, and America was only mentioned in passing,” the German leader said.
Trump was absent from the G20 summit in Johannesburg because he accuses South Africa, without presenting any evidence, of persecuting and killing white farmers there.
Merz highlights secret initiative for Ukraine peace plan
Merz also again expressed his objections to parts of the US peace plan for Ukraine.
“At the moment, I am still not convinced that we will have a political solution on Thursday, given the mutual differences, but we will have to wait and see,” the chancellor said.
He added that he has launched a new initiative on a point that could possibly be agreed upon by Thursday, declining to “elaborate further” on what the point is.
It could be a single point on which agreement could be reached with the Americans and Russians, Merz said.
The chancellor said Saturday that the war in Ukraine cannot end without Kyiv’s “unconditional consent.”
“Wars cannot be ended by great powers over the heads of the countries involved,” Merz said in reaction to Trump’s peace plan for Ukraine.
“If Ukraine loses this war and possibly collapses, it will have an impact on European politics as a whole, on the entire European continent. And that is why we are so committed to this issue,” he added.
