Friedrich Merz, the head of Germany’s opposition Christian Democrats, has said that if he were chancellor, he would seek deals with president-elect Donald Trump that place Germany on a more equal footing. Merz is seen as the strongest contender to succeed Chancellor Olaf Scholz in snap elections expected early next year, after Scholz’s three-way governing coalition collapsed on Wednesday. “We need to go from being a sleeping midsize power back to being a leading midsize power,” Merz told Germany’s Stern magazine. “We have never really articulated and asserted our interests well enough in Germa…