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German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday condemned US President Donald Trump’s xenophobic tweets against four minority Democratic congresswomen, saying the US leader’s attacks “go against what makes America great”.

“I firmly distance myself from (the attacks) and I feel solidarity towards” the women, she told journalists.

“In my view, the strength of America lies in that people from different (origins) contributed to what makes the country great.”

Trump on Sunday urged a group of four progressive Democratic congresswomen of colour — all American citizens and three of them US-born — to “go back” to their countries of origin.

US President Donald Trump on Sunday told a group of mostly American-born Democratic congresswomen to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came,” Linda So reports.

Despite a domestic uproar over the comments which were deemed “racist” by the House of Representatives, Trump repeatedly renewed his attack.

“If you’re not happy here, you can leave…. This is about love for America, certain people hate our country,” he tweeted on Tuesday, while repeating the same message to a rally on Wednesday.

International condemnation has rained down over the comments. British Prime Minister Theresa May called them “completely unacceptable”. New Zealand’s leader Jacinda Ardern said she “completely and utterly” disagreed with Trump.

While usually refraining from commenting on other countries’ domestic politics, Merkel yesterday had markedly sharp words about Trump’s latest attacks.

Questions over racism are particularly sensitive in Germany given its Nazi past, and the government routinely speaks out forcefully in favour of tolerance and diversity.

Trump and Merkel’s relationship had been strained from the start, with the US leader haranguing the German chancellor even before he took office. — AFP.