Germany can’t fully rely on US, says top diplomat

Bloomberg

Germany’s foreign minister urged the EU to “readjust” its relationship with the US and said the bloc can no longer fully rely on the White House after President Donald Trump identified America’s long-term ally as a “ foe”.
Trump, who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on
Monday, characterised the EU as an adversary, citing a trading relationship that he sees as detrimental to America. His comments to CBS News came days after a contentious summit meeting with NATO allies, during which he attacked Germany and other members of the alliance for insufficient military spending.
“If the American president identifies the European Union as a ‘foe,’ this unfortunately shows once more how wide the Atlantic has become in political terms since Donald Trump has been in office,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told the Funke newspaper.
The comments reflect those of Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has reinforced her statement from May 2017 that Europe’s full reliance on relations with the US since World War II is “to some extent over” — and that the bloc must take its destiny more into its own hands.
Merkel’s chief spokesman, Steffen Seibert, referenced those comments in response to Trump’s latest declaration, while pushing back on the notion that a trade conflict should lead to enmity. Trump called Russia a “foe in certain respects” and China “a foe economically.”
“That isn’t our view of the relations between the EU and the US,” Seibert said at a news conference in Berlin.