German Chancellor Angela Merkel isn’t showing the slightest bit of uncertainty or remorse in regards to her suggestion that Europe can no longer fully rely on the United States due to President Donald Trump’s decisions.
The chancellor instead reaffirmed her claim as she prepares to host Trump at the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany this weekend.
Leaders from all over the world travel annually to Germany to partake in the two-day G-20 summit to discuss issues such as economic growth, international trade and financial market regulations.
When asked in an interview with Die Zeit on Wednesday whether Merkel would repeat her statement, she replied, “Yes, exactly that way.”
Merkel also criticized the U.S. government’s view of globalization.
“While we are looking for ways of working together for all-round benefits, globalization is seen in the US administration rather as a process in which it is not about win-win situations, But a winner and a loser,” the chancellor said in the interview. “Donald Trump’s statement that the world is an arena and not a global community is completely contrary to their view: We do not want few to benefit from economic progress.”
“It is, for example, open whether we can and should in the future rely on the U.S. investing so much as it has so far in the United Nations’ work, in Middle East policy, in European security policy or in peace missions in Africa,” Merkel said, according to Associated Press.
In a pre-summit meeting in Berlin last week, Merkel reemphasized the importance of the Paris accord that fights climate change.
She reiterated that the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord was “extraordinarily regrettable.”
“We have to react now to prevent long-term consequences” of climate change, she added.
Merkel is ready to face the challenge of opposing viewpoints from not only Trump, but also from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erodgan and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We have to take the configurations as they are,” Merkel said in the interview. “As G-20 chairwoman, I have the job of working out ways of reaching agreement and not contributing to an inability to talk.”
“At the same time, the differences must not be swept under the carpet,” she added.
Tens of thousands of protesters are expected to march in the city this week to press for solutions to climate change.
