AfD: Difficult friendship: Trump does the AfD harm?

Nothing welds people with different opinions as much as a common opponent. You can currently see this in the reactions of German politicians on the tariffs of US President Donald Trump. From the Union over SPD and green up to the otherwise globalization -critical Left party Everyone agrees: Trump harms his tariffs USA And the rest of the world. They all support against tariffs or call for more far-reaching measures such as higher taxes for American tech companies. Only one party is back with the demand for countermeasures: the AfD.

This is probably because the party Donald Trump does not see as an opponent. In terms of ideological, it is close to the US President. And in the past, the AfD celebrated this proximity to the public. Party leader Tino Chrupalla flew to Washington to take care of Donald Trump, Elon Musk spoke to Vice President JD Vance at the campaign of the party and chancellor candidate Alice Weidel on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. The party is now bringing this into a dilemma.

Weidel criticizes the tariffs, but not Donald Trump

Because the US president’s customs policy is unpopular among voters. According to a survey by the opinion research institute YouGov, 68 percent of those surveyed support the against tariffs in response to the policy of the US government. Only 17 percent reject this. Even among the tendency to trump -friendly AfD voters, 50 percent in favor of countermeasures. Many feel the effects of US politics When looking at the stock depot. And some Entrepreneurs fear serious consequences for domestic businesses.

The AfD also knows that. The party is correspondingly reserved in the assessment of the tariffs. Party leader Weidel, for example, endeavors to criticize the taxes, but not directly to the US President. Whether the tariffs are justified, « is secondary », Weidel wrote on Elon Musk’s platform X. « It is crucial to show the United States: an agreement is the better way for both sides! » In the past, Weidel Donald Trump called a “role model” for Germany because of his occurrence for the US interests

The AfD faction’s foreign policy spokesman, Mathias Moosdorf, is not worried about the surveys. « I don’t think that staining on us in the long term, » he told our editorial team. You have to « keep the goal and the way apart ». Trump tries to achieve a better deal for his country. With a view to the stock market, Moosdorf speaks of « temporary turbulence ».

There are potential for the tariffs in the AfD

The topic is not only delicate with a view to the surveys. A crack within the right is revealed on the tariffs. You can see that in the United States particularly clearly. There are two currents in Trump’s environment there. On the one hand, the national populists around Trump consultant Steve Bannon are on the one hand. They create a mood against immigrants and a supposedly cosmopolitan elite, and they are also critical of large corporations. Bannon supports the tariffs. On the other hand, the camp of Elon Musk: Libertaren who explained the state institutions. You see an intervention in the free market in the tariffs. Trump’s trade advisor Peter Navarro is « dümzer than a sack brick, » said Musk recently.

These two camps can also be recognized in Germany a little. While the economist Alice Weidel, who regularly praises Musk And the AfD missed the label « Libertär and Conservative », which still criticized the tariffs for AfD conditions relatively sharply (« far too aggressive »), said Tino Chrupalla in an interview with the Bild newspaperthe policy of the US president is « understandable ». Mathias Moosdorf also protects Trump. « He has already achieved a lot, » says Moosdorf to our editorial team. « He recently said around the 90 countries to negotiate. »

The AfD tries to resolve these opposites – and with that again – at the beginning – by looking for a common opponent. In the case of the AfD, however, this is not the US president. But optionally the federal government or the EU. Germany is not sufficient for negotiations, the tenor from the party said. Mathias Moosdorf accuses the EU Commission « Studness », where « big tones » are spit, but in addition to the counter-tariffs, it is not sufficient for negotiations. He himself trusts that the US government is not concerned with « destroying the domestic economy. »