Meeting with 70-year-old President Donald Trump at the G-7 summit in Taormina, Sicily, 62-yearold German Chancellor Angel Merkel warned the European Union that it cold no longer count on U.S. backing. Trump told Merkel Germany and other NATO allies must pay their fair share for defense, something largely falling on the U.S. Running for reelection Sept. 24, Merkel wants show voters she’s the No. 1 cheerleader for the EU, complaining bitterly about Great Britain’s June 23, 2016 Brexit vote. Britain decided to join the EU under the Nov. 1, 1993 Maastricht Treaty, though Britain signed the 1967 Treaty of Rome, joining the European Community. Britan’s exit from the EU was a blow to the EU—and Merkel—something backed by Trump because of dangerous immigration policies. Merkel has a big problem with Trump’s support of the June 23, 2016 Brexit vote.
Trump made no bones about his dissatisfaction with the EU member-states contributions to NATO’s defense. Truimp did the unthinkable, reminding Merkel of Germany’s large trade deficit with the U.S., allowing German companies to sell without any restrictions or tariffs into the U.S. market. “We have a MASSIVE trade deficit with Germany, plus they pay FAE LESS than they should to NATO & military. Very bad for the U.S. This will change,” Trump tweeted after returning from his Mideast and European trip. Merkel hopes she can milk her tiff with Trump to consolidate her Christian Democrat Union with Bavaria’s Horst Seehoffer’s Christian Social Union, making her reelection inevitable. Merkel knows her row with Trump pulls Martin Schultz’s left wing Social Democratic Party also into her governing coalition in the Deutsch Bundestag, Germany’s lower house of parliament.
Trump played it straight with European leaders, not realizing that a row with Merkel helps her reelection bid. Speaking in a crowded beer tent in Bavaria near Munich, Merkel said Germany can no longer rely on the trans-Atlantic partnership with the U.S. Merkel’s remarks were reported in the U.S. press that Trump’s destroying the post-WW II trans-Antlantic partnership, completely missing Merkel’s shrewd political move to play off Trump’s disfavor with certain German groups. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel played down any rift with the U.S. “The United States are old and bigger than the current conflict,” said Gabriel, looking at the big picture. “It is inappropriate that we are now communicating with each other between a beer tent and Twitter,” making fun of the current political rift. While it’s true there a big trade deficit with Germany, it’s also true Germany employs thousands of U.S. workers.
Since Britain bailed out last years, Brussels has been under more pressure from other EU states not compliant with the EU’s immigration policies. Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] May 24 attack killing 22, wounding over 100 in Manchester, England reinforces other EU states that they can’t follow current immigration policies without consequences. Merkel and French President Emanuel Macron don’t want to see more EU states bail out. Trump’s been critical of the EU for what he sees as lax terrorism policies, allowing too many refugees from the war-ravaged Middle East. Saying that the U.S. is the “destroyer of Western values,” Schultz hyped the row with Trump, signaling he’s behind Merkel’s reelection bid. Merkel finds herself a lock for reelection, cobbling together Germany’s most liberal and conservative groups, especially now with Trump as her common enemy.
Europe faces some tough sledding dealing with its refugee crisis, largely caused by U.S. and EU policies backing a seven-year-old proxy war to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. While complaining of a refugee crisis, Merkel 100% backed the seven-year-old Saudi proxy war in Syria, causing the worst humanitarian crisis since WW II. When Schultz talks of “destroying Western values,” backing the Saudi proxy war in Syria put the EU under maximum stress. EU countries from Scandinavia to Southern Italy can’t absorb the hoards of Mideast and North African refugees flooding the borders. Trump opposes the Saudi proxy war in Syria, something backed heavily by former President Barack Obama. Triump’s accused of being a “Russian puppet” because he agrees with Russian President Vladimir Putin that keeping al-Assad in power is better than creating another Mideast failed state.
Merkel played all of Germany’s political parties against Trump, cleverly milking trans-Atlantic difference for her own political gain. Setting herself up against Trump as the EU’s chief cheerleader, Merkel uses her clout to discredit Trump in Europe and the U.S. Merkel doesn’t like to hear that Germany takes advantage of its economic relationship with the U.S. Trump wants EU countries, especially Germany, to pay its fair share of NATO defense. “This takes nothing away from the importance of our trans-Atlantic ties and our alliance with the United States,” said Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni. “But the importance we put on these ties cannot mean that we abandon fundamental principles such as out commitment to fight climate change and in favor of open societies and free trade, taking a swipe at Trump. Trump told the G-7 he hasn’t decided whether to back the Paris climate change treaty.
