After Merkel, who is the next 'leader of the free world?’ by The World published on 2019-05-30T21:25:15Z Germany's Angela Merkel gave the commencement address at Harvard on Thursday. In the era of Trump and "America first," Merkel has been seen as a forceful voice for shared western values of democracy, human rights and multilateralism. But Merkel is stepping off the global stage in 2021. The World's Matthew Bell reports.