BERLIN, May 29 — Germany’s top diplomat Sigmar Gabriel on Monday released harsh words on the United States, saying U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies have weakened the West.
“The short-sighted policies of the American government stand against the interests of the European Union. The West has become smaller, at least it has become weaker,” Gabriel said.
The German foreign minister referred to the G7 meeting and the NATO summit last week, noting that Trump’s performance were unsatisfactory since he refused to endorse NATO’s collective defense principles or the Paris agreement on climate change.
“Anyone who speeds up climate change by weakening environmental protection, who sells more weapons in conflict areas and who does not want to politically resolve religious conflicts is putting Europe’s peace at risk,” Gabriel said.
Gabriel made the remarks on the sidelines of a round-table discussion on migrant crisis in Berlin.
His words also echoed German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s “beer tent speech” a day before, when Merkel also cast doubts on Europe’s alignment with the United States and Britain.
Merkel, during a campaign in Germany’s southern state of Bavaria, said following the election of Trump and Brexit, Europeans “really have to take destiny into their own hands.”
Spiegel Online, an influential German news hub, dubbed the words of the two politicians as “a trans-Atlantic turning point,” saying their speech clearly want to distance Germany from Trump.
