Merz cancels Trump call after president celebrates far-right AfD election win

In a rare act of diplomatic restraint, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz cancelled a scheduled call with President Trump hours after Trump publicly celebrated the far-right AfD party's regional election victory in Germany — a gesture small in form but large in meaning. The episode surfaces a deeper tension in the transatlantic relationship: the question of where a foreign leader's commentary ends and interference in another nation's democratic life begins. Germany, still carrying the weight of its own history with political extremism, finds itself navigating a moment where its closest ally appe