At Harvard, a not-so-veiled rebuke of Trump by Angela Merkel

CAMBRIDGE — German Chancellor Angela Merkel offered a sharp and not-so-veiled rebuke of President Trump and his brand of nationalism during her commencement speech at Harvard University on Thursday.

Merkel never mentioned Trump by name, but warned graduating students of the dangers of building walls and approaching the world’s problems — from climate change and trade to terrorism and forced migration — with an isolationist, go-it-yourself philosophy.

“Tear down walls of ignorance and narrow-mindedness,” Merkel told a sea of Harvard students and their family members, alumni, and university leaders who gathered for the annual rite of passage. “Changes for the better are possible, if we tackle them together. . . . Take joint action in the interests of the multilateral, global world.”

Merkel, who has served as chancellor since 2005 and announced that she will step down in 2021, has a fraught relationship with Trump. They have clashed on issues of trade and immigration, with Trump threatening tariffs on European cars because of the trade imbalance between the countries. Trump has also taken to Twitter to suggest that Merkel is “ruining Germany.”

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