Alex Brandon/Reuters
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says it was “inappropriate” for Donald Trump to criticize NATO and Germany in comments published over the weekend, warning the president-elect that he will have to take responsibility for soured relations with Europe. In a joint interview with Germany’s Bild and the Times of London over the weekend, Trump laid out his vision for foreign relations. Lashing out at Germany, he called Angela Merkel’s refugees policy “a catastrophic mistake,” saying she never should have let so many migrants in. In separate comments, he said NATO was “obsolete” – a comment which Germany’s foreign minister says has caused “astonishment and agitation” within the alliance. In an interview with CNN on Monday, Kerry made his stance on Trump’s remarks clear – albeit in politer terms than Trump used in his criticism. Saying it was “inappropriate” for the president-elect to “be stepping in to the politics of other countries in a quite direct manner,” Kerry warned that Trump would soon be “responsible” for relations with other countries. He also defended Merkel, calling her “one of the strongest leaders in Europe.”