In her first speech since announcing her plan to run for a fourth term as chancellor, Angela Merkel warned against isolation, populism and killing trade deals. She never mentioned Donald Trump by name, but the target was clear.

(Source: Reuters) Angela Merkel acknowledged the concerns of people about stability in a changing world.

Angela Merkel spoke Wednesday in the German parliament for the first time since she announced Sunday her plan to run for a fourth term as chancellor in the next year’s elections. As with many speeches since November 8, her target was across the Atlantic.

Ms. Merkel never mentioned her new U.S. counterpart, president-elect Donald Trump, by name. But the message as ever was clear.

Her speech marked a clarion call for cooperation the world over. At the same time she acknowledged people's worries about instability in a world shaped by globalization, digitization, terrorism and violent conflicts from Ukraine to Syria.

Ms. Merkel also indirectly criticized the president-elect’s announcement this week that he will cancel a U.S. trade deal with Asian countries, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership or TPP.

Her chief warning to Mr. Trump: If the United States doesn’t help set the rules of global trade, somebody else will.

I do know that there will be more trade deals ... and these will then not have the standards of this [TPP] agreement. Angela Merkel

“I am not happy that the trans-Pacific agreement will not likely be realized,” Ms. Merkel told parliament. “I don’t know who will benefit from this.”

Ms. Merkel has long argued that it is incumbent on western nations to set the rules of global trade in these uncertain times. It’s why she has backed floundering trade deals like the Asia-Pacific TPP agreement, or the floundering negotiations over a U.S.-E.U. free-trade deal.

“I do know that there will be more trade deals,” she said, “and these will then not have the standards of this [TPP] agreement nor of the planned TTIP agreement.”

While the German chancellor has strongly supported the yet-to-concluded trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the United States and the European Union, known as TTIP, there are serious doubts about whether both sides will be able to conclude the negotiations. That’s not just down to Mr. Trump: Opposition has also been strong in Europe, and particularly among the German population.

Ms. Merkel praised a recently concluded trade agreement between the European Union and Canada, known as CETA, saying it set new high-quality standards which answered the challenges of globalization, for instance by setting fairer labor conditions.

18-p12-merkel-on-the-rise-again-01 poll ratings survey

But it’s not just about trade deals. Cooperation among nations, both in Europe and globally, were crucial to deal with today’s challenges, Ms. Merkel said. People feel the world is no longer as predictable as it used to be, she said.

“These worries about stability are also strengthened by what happens around us. Populism and political extremes are on the rise in Western democracies,” the chancellor said.

People and nations could either respond by withdrawing from others or seek cooperation internationally and strengthen the values “we deem right and important,” Ms. Merkel said.

“I say we should focus on commonalities, on multilateralism, on cooperation with others to shape globalization. That is what I will campaign for,” she told parliament.

Since she first took power in 2005, Germany's political landscape has changed. Ms. Merkel, a Christian Democrat, faces growing support for a right-wing populist party called Alternative for Germany, or AfD as it is known in Germany. Her party, the CDU, suffered defeat in her home state in regional elections in September as voters rejected her open-door policy to refugees.

These worries about stability are also strengthened by what happens around us. Populism and political extremes are on the rise in Western democracies. Angela Merkel

Across Europe, leaders of nationalist movements have welcomed Mr. Trump’s victory, hoping they too could benefit from rising support in their home countries. Alongside Germany, France and the Netherlands face general elections next year: the Netherlands in March and France in April.

Britain’s decision in June to leave the European Union, a decision partially made due to fears about immigration, was already a call for European leaders to listen to people’s worries about jobs and well-being, Ms. Merkel said.

She also said politicians should do better to explain what countries are doing to address globalization’s problems, for instance tax avoidance by international firms. The decision by the world’s 20 biggest economies, the Group of 20, to reduce tax avoidance options for internationally active companies was a “step in the right direction” to correct “scorching and flagrant tax differences,” she said.

“The fact that the European Union is addressing tax payments by Apple and Google is a step in the right direction,” she said.

Likewise, the G20 is another, international way to “shape globalization in a human way,” Ms. Merkel said. In December, Germany will take over the rotating annual presidency of the Group of 20, a discussion and policy coordination platform uniting the world’s 20 biggest economies, including the United States, Germany, China and India.

Gilbert Kreijger is an editor with Handelsblatt Global in Berlin. To contact the author: [email protected]