When German chancellor Friedrich Merz said Iran "is humiliating" the US with its negotiating tactics, Donald Trump didn't reply with a diplomatic note. He replied with a post on Truth Social. And with the energy of a man who's just sharpened his knife.

"The German Chancellor should focus more on ending the Russia-Ukraine war, where he has shown complete ineffectiveness, and on repairing his own broken state - particularly on migration and energy - instead of meddling in the fight against the Iranian nuclear threat", Trump wrote.

These sentences aren't accidental. Each carries a sharp edge. First - "complete ineffectiveness" in Ukraine, while Germany is the largest European donor for Kyiv after the US. Second - "broken state", terminology that's rarely used in American political language toward a NATO ally. Third - the jab on migration and energy, two areas where Berlin is politically vulnerable.

Merz responded with discretion. He stressed that the US-Germany alliance is important, that NATO unity is the priority, and that Berlin remains "a trusted American partner". In other words: he swallowed his words.

The transatlantic crisis didn't start with Merz. It started in the first months of the second Trump administration. Germany has a specific mistake - it tried to speak in the same diplomatic tone with which it spoke to Biden. That tone no longer works in Washington.

In the Balkans we see this as a refreshment. For a very long time Berlin was the tone of Europe. Our politicians ran to meetings at the Chancellery as if to an exam. Now, when Trump takes a step on Germany, he takes a step on the EU too. And the question for Skopje and Belgrade is the same: who do we deal with - a Berlin that no longer decides, or a Washington that no longer listens?