Meeting between two leaders in a formal setting, discussing important matters while seated in ornate chairs with a decorative backdrop.

Meeting between two leaders in a formal setting, discussing important matters while seated in ornate chairs with a decorative backdrop.
President Donald J. Trump hosts a bilateral meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)

Germany’s left-liberal, globalist Chancellor Friedrich Merz has postponed a planned telephone conversation with the US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, days after voters in Saxony-Anhalt handed the AfD a sweeping regional election victory and a major defeat to Merz’s CDU.

The German government offered no explanation for pulling the call, the German press reported. Government spokesman Stefan Kornelius said Berlin had requested the postponement and that officials hadn’t yet settled on another date.

Asked whether an ordinary scheduling conflict caused the change, Kornelius indicated that it wasn’t the issue. The unanswered questions quickly turned attention toward Trump’s public celebration of the AfD’s election result.

Trump had weighed in after the AfD stormed into first place in Saxony-Anhalt. Writing on Truth Social, he described the result as a “really big night” for Germany’s populist movement and linked its rise directly to public frustration over immigration.

The president said Germans had grown tired of immigration rules that, in his assessment, had inflicted serious damage on the country. He ended the message with “MGGA,” an apparent German variation of his “Make America Great Again” slogan.

Merz’s spokesman refrained from saying whether those remarks prompted Wednesday’s decision. Instead, Kornelius pointed to the chancellor’s previous position that foreign governments shouldn’t intervene in or comment on Germany’s domestic politics, particularly elections.

The diplomatic friction arrived at an especially difficult moment for Merz. His CDU suffered a devastating setback in Sunday’s Saxony-Anhalt election as the AfD more than doubled its previous share of the vote.

Official results put the AfD at 43.8%, while the CDU collapsed to 17.2%. The AfD secured 39 seats in the 83-member state parliament, leaving it only three seats short of an outright majority.

The scale of the result transformed what had been a regional contest into a national political problem for Merz. His party had governed Saxony-Anhalt for more than two decades, but voters delivered the CDU one of its most punishing defeats there.

AfD candidate Ulrich Siegmund said the result demonstrated that voters wanted fundamental change. He campaigned heavily on immigration and promised deportations of people residing illegally in Germany from the beginning of an AfD administration.

Migration wasn’t the election’s only issue. Germany’s exceedingly sluggish economy, dissatisfaction with the federal government and concerns about living standards also helped shape the vote, according to election analyses.

Still, immigration has become one of the sharpest dividing lines in German politics. The AfD advocates substantially tighter border and migration policies, while Trump has repeatedly argued that Germany and other European countries allowed immigration to reach damaging levels.

Merz, who is in a coalition government with the socialists, has promised tougher migration controls but has so far failed to implement any meaningful change.

The confrontation with AfD has become harder for Germany’s established parties to avoid after Sunday’s result. Despite winning almost 44% of the vote, the AfD still faces the longstanding “firewall” under which Germany’s mainstream parties refuse political cooperation with it.

Merz has shown no sign of abandoning that approach. Following his party’s defeat, he acknowledged mistakes but rejected suggestions that he should step aside and said surrendering wasn’t an option.

AfD leaders, meanwhile, have seized on the election as evidence that their political isolation is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain. Co-leader Alice Weidel used Wednesday’s Bundestag debate to attack Merz’s leadership and portray the Saxony-Anhalt result as a rejection of his government.

Trump’s social media posts added an international dimension to that battle. His administration and political allies have previously criticized the exclusion of national conservative parties in Europe, while prominent figures in Trump’s orbit have openly expressed sympathy for the AfD.

The postponed telephone conversation carried significance beyond the latest dispute. Merz and Trump had planned to speak in connection with the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, with Berlin emphasizing Germany’s continuing solidarity with the United States.

German officials claim the transatlantic relationship remains important despite disagreements between Berlin and Washington. Relations have nevertheless faced pressure over immigration, trade, Ukraine, and other foreign-policy questions since Trump returned to the White House.

For Merz, the immediate challenge remains at home. The AfD’s 43.8% showing against the CDU’s 17.2% has dramatically altered the political landscape in Saxony-Anhalt and intensified questions about the chancellor’s ability to reverse his party’s losses.

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