Germany’s Chancellor Front-Runner Downplays Trump NATO Demand

(Bloomberg) -- Friedrich Merz, the German conservative who is the front-runner to become the next chancellor, downplayed a remark by US President-elect Donald Trump calling for NATO members to more than double defense spending.

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The head of the Christian Democratic Union described Trump’s demand that alliance partners spend 5% of GDP on defense as “a spontaneous comment,” Merz said on Wednesday at a press conference following a meeting with his party’s Bavarian partner. He said that the current goal for spending 2% of GDP on defense was a “minimum.”

Germany reached that target for the first time only last year, thanks to a special €100 billion ($103 billion) fund initiated by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s administration in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The event in Bavaria marked the unofficial start of the conservatives’ campaign ahead of the Feb. 23 snap election. The CDU and Bavaria’s Christian Social Union were intent on showing unity after division ahead of the 2021 vote undermined support. Merz and CSU leader Markus Soeder identified the Greens as the chief rival, even though the environmental party is fourth in the polls.

The CDU-led bloc is the clear leader, with a lead of more than 10 points over the far-right Alternative for Germany and almost double the support of Scholz’s Social Democrats.

On defense, the conservatives want to further increase German defense spending up to 3% of GDP, but it’s unclear yet how this goal and other initiatives with will be financed.

Merz has said in the past that he would try to establish good relations with the new Trump administration, but made clear that Germany would act as an equal partner.

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