German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday that the US is pivoting from a rules-based international order toward a policy driven strictly by power and national interests, urging Europe to assert itself. “We are experiencing that our most important ally in the world — and that is still the United States of America — is turning away from a rules-based order,” Merz said at a Christian Democratic Union (CDU) event in Heddesheim. Instead of orienting toward international law, Merz observed that the development of US policy is moving “towards a purely power- and interest-led politics”.
