U.S. President Donald Trump‘s presence in Europe for the NATO and G7 summits was not the White House image reset that some pundits prophesied. Instead, Trump’s behavior played into the Ugly American stereotype, complete with a scene that appeared plucked out of pre-K picture day. With Trump back in America and keeping busy on Twitter, it doesn’t appear he’s left a favorable impression following his European tour. In fact, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has come out of these talks with a warning for Europe: The U.S. isn’t the ally it used to be anymore.
Speaking at an election rally in Berlin, Merkel (who saw Germany heavily criticized by Trump this week) told the crowd that Europe can no longer fully count on the United States in 2017.
“The times in which we could completely depend on others are to a certain extent over,” said Merkel. “I’ve experienced that in the last few days. We Europeans truly have to take our fate into our own hands.”
The G7 summit featured a major split between the seven world leaders when Trump declined to endorse the Paris climate accord. The talks were billed by Merkel as “very difficult, if not to say very unsatisfactory” with only Trump pushing against the Paris Agreement.
“This is not just any old agreement, but it is a central agreement for shaping globalization,” stated the campaigning Merkel. “There are no signs of whether the U.S. will stay in the Paris accords or not.”
The tone of Merkel’s talks paints a different picture than Trump’s sunnier perspective on social media and further drives home that U.S.-German relations will be without the Obama + Merkel camaraderie of before.
(Via The Guardian & New York Times)