German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Tuesday that parts of the U.S. administration’s new National Security Strategy are terrible from Europe’s point of view.

“Some of it is comprehensible, some of it is understandable. Some of it is unacceptable to us from a European perspective,” Merz told reporters when asked about the geopolitical strategy and how it would affect the transatlantic relationship.

“I see no need for the Americans to now want to save democracy in Europe. If it would need to be saved, we would manage on our own,” he said.

Trump’s National Security Strategy released last week, announced a realignment of the geopolitical order while claiming that Europe faces “civilizational erasure,” triggered by excess migration from Muslim-majority and non-European countries.

In the document, the U.S administration also appears to hint it could help ideologically allied European parties, saying “the growing influence of patriotic European parties indeed gives cause for great optimism.”

Trump underscored that aim in an interview with POLITICO’s Dasha Burns that aired Tuesday in a special episode of The Conversation podcast, signaling he would endorse European politicians that share his vision.

Merz — who commented on Trump’s new geopolitical strategy during a visit to the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, where most of the approximately 35,000 U.S. troops in Germany are stationed — said he was not surprised by the general tone of the document, but rather felt reinforced in his assessment that the EU needs to become much more independent from Washington in terms of security and defense.

“In my discussions with Americans, I say: ‘America first’ is fine, but ‘America alone’ cannot be in your interest,” Merz said. “You also need partners in the world. One of those partners could be Europe. And if you can’t get on board with Europe, then at least make Germany your partner.”

Merz also said Trump had accepted an invitation to Germany in the coming year.

Chris Lunday and Hans von der Burchard contributed to this report.