In Sunday’s elections in Germany, voters elected a Christian Democratic Party (CDU) that bears little resemblance to the party that Angela Merkel ran. Thank God. Under Merkel, Germany saw welfare spending balloon, the economy stagnate, and her green energy obsession deindustrialized Germany.

The new CDU Chancellor Friedrich Merz is cut from a different cloth. He frequently quotes his role model Ronald Reagan saying “The most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.'”

Merz wants to reduce Germany’s combined corporate tax rate from 30% to below 25%, bringing it close to the OECD average of 24%. He also wants fewer regulations and a sensible energy policy that will reduce, as we’ve noted on these pages in recent weeks, among the highest electricity prices in the world:

It’s more evidence that Trumpism is going to spread throughout the world.

“We as Europe could offer to go to zero [tariffs] for all US goods, and then say we would expect the same the other way around,” said Jens Spahn, a senior member of the center-right Christian Democratic Union party.