BERLIN (AP) — Germany's foreign minister says Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is one of the world's "hate preachers," who he says play with people's fears.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Thursday that right-wing populists in various countries are united by one thing — "they make politics with fear."

According to news agency dpa, he said that applies to Germany's own nationalist Alternative for Germany party, to promoters of Britain's exit from the European Union and to "the hate preachers, like Donald Trump at the moment in the U.S.A."

Steinmeier's comments came during an appearance in the northern city of Rostock. The minister, who is a member of the center-left junior party in Germany's governing coalition, has previously criticized Trump.