'Washington Has Become Much Rougher': Germany Is Still Recalibrating With Trump
In 2011, former President Barack Obama described the trans-Atlantic alliance as "The heart of our efforts to promote peace and prosperity around the world. And Germany — at the heart of Europe — is one of our strongest allies."
In 2019 the world looks different. Two years after President Trump took office, the U.S.-German relationship is at a new low.
President Trump has criticized Germany, Europe's largest economy, more than he has any other European ally. In his words, Germany is "captive to Russia," "Germany owes vast sums of money to NATO" and "the Germans are bad, very bad."
Those remarks. "This might be due to Trump's political style and the way he communicates, but also because of the German-bashing we hear out of Washington: on trade, on defense, on natural gas, on our immigration policy."
