Relations between Friedrich Merz, the Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and incoming Chancellor of Germany, and U.S. President Donald J. Trump appear to be already off to a rocky start, following last week’s heated-exchange at the White House between U.S. President Donald J. Trump, Vice-President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which Merz today called a “deliberate escalation” by the Trump Administration against Ukraine. Both Trump and one of his senior advisors, Elon Musk, had publicly praised both Merz and the CDU in recent weeks, following their success during the recent German Election, which showed a massive increase of support for conservative parties including the CDU.