In Light Of Merkel Remarks … Jan 18, We Noted: “Trump Anti-NATO / Anti-EU Remarks Show Total Ignorance of Global Realities & Frighten Europeans – Maybe He Really Is Putin Operative”

The new French president, Emmanuel Macron, has shown a willingness to work with Germany and to help lead the bloc out of its troubles.

And Ms. Merkel sees Germany’s future more and more with the European Union of 27 nations, without Britain after its vote to leave the bloc.

Ms. Merkel’s emphasis on the need of Europe to stand up for its own interests comes after Trump declined to publicly endorse NATO’s doctrine of collective defense

or to agree to common European positions

  • on global trade,
  • dealing with Russian aggression or
  • mitigating the effects of climate change.

“We have to know that we must fight for our future on our own, for our destiny as Europeans,” Ms. Merkel said.

Toxic Combination of Trump and Brexit

Ms. Merkel, who did not mention Trump by name, also spoke of Britain’s decision to leave the European Union,

which means the bloc will lose its second-largest economy and one of its two nuclear powers.

Britain’s departure will also weaken trans-Atlantic ties and leave the Continent more exposed than before.

Given this new context for international relations, she said,

“I can only say that we Europeans must really take our fate into our own hands —

of course in friendship with the United States of America, in friendship with Great Britain

and as good neighbors wherever that is possible also with other countries, even with Russia.”

With her statement, she seemed to be calling for German voters to get accustomed to a more active European role —

and to more involvement by Berlin in crises on the Continent as well as global ones affecting Europe’s future.

German Elections Now Even More Crucial

Ms. Merkel is seeking a fourth term as chancellor ahead of parliamentary elections in September.

Ms. Merkel was known to have been unsettled by her meetings with Trump in Washington in March,

and she had been concerned that if Marine Le Pen won the French presidency this month,

Germany would be isolated and the European Union badly damaged.

Macron Less Pessimistic View

But Macron, who was meeting Trump for the first time, appeared to have a less negative impression of the outcome of the talks than Ms. Merkel.

In a news conference at the end of the Group of 7 conference, Macron took a glass-half-full approach, saying that he believed,

over all, that despite Trump’s earlier hostile language toward NATO,

multilateralism was intact and there was a shared vision in a number of areas.

Trump campaigned on a platform of trade protectionism, nationalism and skepticism about multilateralism and climate change —

all issues on which most European leaders disagree with him.

Europeans also depend on NATO for their ultimate defense,

and are more concerned about an increasingly aggressive Russia than Trump seems to be,

although his defense secretary and national security adviser, both senior military officers, insist that the president is fully behind NATO’s Article 5,

which requires all members to come to the defense of any country in the alliance that is attacked.

Ivo H. Daalder, a former United States envoy to NATO who is now the director of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. said:

“This is ‘America first’ — a policy focused on narrow self-interest —

and abandons the idea that the best way to enhance our security and prosperity is

by having strong allies and leading globally in pursuit of common values and interests.”

As they traveled back to the United States over the weekend, moronic White House officials said Trump had succeeded in delivering a blunt message about self-reliance to American allies in Europe.

They said the president’s decision to scold the NATO member countries about their contributions to the defense alliance would reduce the need for the United States to carry the financial burden for the Continent’s defense.

And they said the president’s tough position on trade would help protect American companies from unfair practices —

all of which, of course, is total bullshit.

White House officials expressed little concern about the personal interactions between the president and other heads of state.

The administration official said Trump had built “an extraordinary rapport with the other leaders.”

Really.

Trump Insanity on Climate Change Disturbs Merkel

Ms. Merkel seemed particularly upset with Trump’s refusal to endorse language supporting free trade

and backing the Paris climate accord in the Group of 7 declaration after talks in Taormina, Sicily.

There have been reports that Trump intends to abandon the 195-nation climate deal agreed upon in 2015, arguing that it hurts the American economy.

The climate accord was the most vivid sign of division between the United States and its allies.

But Trump, in Brussels, also repeated comments that Germany was “very bad” because of its trade surplus

and the fact that some German car companies manufacture in Mexico for importing into the United States,

even though many of them produce cars in American factories with American workers.

On Saturday, Ms. Merkel was unusually direct in discussing what she called unsatisfying talks on climate change,

which is an important issue for many German voters and a hallmark topic for the chancellor,

who first made her mark in the 1990s shepherding an international accord on the environment.

Ms. Merkel’s disappointment on the issue was not entirely shared by Macron,

who said Trump had at least listened to the arguments of the other Group of 7 leaders.

Ms. Merkel, however, sounded a somewhat bleaker note.

“The whole discussion about climate was very difficult, not to say unsatisfactory,” she said. “

There’s a situation where it’s six, if you count the European Union, seven, against one.”

“This is not just any old agreement, but it is a central agreement for shaping globalization,” she said.

“There are no signs of whether the U.S. will stay in the Paris accords or not.”

The Handshake

Macron told the French news media that his now-famous handshake tussle with Trump was a deliberate effort

to show that he could not be pushed around by the American president.

He told the Sunday newspaper Journal du Dimanche that it was “a moment of truth” —

designed to show that he is no pushover, and a message for the European Union leadership, as well.

“My handshake with him — it wasn’t innocent,” Macron said.

“One must show that you won’t make small concessions, even symbolic ones,

but also not over-publicize things, either.”

Merkel-Macron Relationship

The budding Merkel-Macron relationship is important, and Ms. Merkel has moved quickly to embrace him,

conscious that he must still try to win a legislative majority in elections next month to be an effective partner.

The European Union has traditionally been at its strongest when its two biggest continental powers work closely in tandem.

Accordingly, Ms. Merkel and her top aides held a bilateral meeting on Friday night in Sicily with Macron and his top officials, German officials said.

Most strikingly, the spouses of the two leaders also attended.

It is rare for Ms. Merkel’s husband, Joachim Sauer, to accompany her on trips abroad — something she said recently that he decides.

Brigitte Macron is new to the role of France’s first lady, but Mr. Macron has credited her with giving him valuable political advice.

In general, Macron — who will meet with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Monday at Versailles, outside Paris —

has stressed friendship with Germany, appointing German speakers to critical positions, including

  • prime minister,
  • chief foreign policy adviser and
  • defense minister.

The newly elected president also kept the tradition of paying his first official visit to Berlin,

doing so on his first full day in office.

Daalder disputed Trump’s ridiculous Twitter boast that the “trip was a great success for America”.

  • “The president’s failure to endorse Article 5 in a speech at NATO headquarters,
  • his continued lambasting of Germany and other allies on trade,
  • his apparent decision to walk away from the Paris climate agreement —
  • all suggest the US is less interested in leading globally than has been the case for the last 70 years,” he said, rather obviously.

Source: Merkel, After Discordant G-7 Meeting, Is Looking Past Trump – The New York Times