Negotiators from German election winner Friedrich Merz’s conservative bloc and the center-left Social Democrats have started exploratory talks on a possible coalition government.

Hours after Friedrich Merz's conservatives won Germany's national election, he sent the outgoing Social Democrat government a memorandum dictating how to cooperate during the transition period before he took power.

Merz expressed concern over changing relations with Washington under the Trump administration, emphasizing the need for gradual independence from the U.S.