German-bashing Trump tweet
May 30, 2017
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday again complained about Germany, saying it was disadvantaging his country with its trade surplus and by failing to spend enough on NATO and military defense.
His comments echo several previous remarks of the same kind he has made, notably during recent meetings with European leaders in Brussels, where he called the Germans "bad, very bad" because of the trade deficit they had allegedly inflicted on the US.
At a NATO summit, he also reprimanded 23 of the 28 allies for owing "massive amounts of money," saying that this was "not fair to the people and tax payers of the United States."
He also snubbed fellow participants at a G7 summit in Sicily by refusing to confirm US commitment to the landmark Paris climate agreement.
Frustration in Germany
Trump's seemingly anti-German and anti-European stance during his recent international trip, his first since becoming president, drew a defiant, but concerned response from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who over the past few days has suggested that the transatlantic alliance was on shaky ground.
"The times when we could fully rely on others have passed us by a little bit; that's what I've experienced in recent days," she said at a campaign rally in the southern German city of Munich, adding however, that she was a "convinced transatlanticist."
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel has echoed these sentiments, saying the West had become "weaker " because of the US' "shortsighted" polices, and accusing Trump of abandoning Western values.