The partnership between Europe and the U.S. has been strained, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the day after President Trump returned from the G7 summit.
“The times when we could fully rely on others are to some extent over — I experienced that in the last few days,” Merkel told her supporters, according to Bloomberg. “We Europeans must really take our destiny into our own hands.”
“Of course we need to have friendly relations with the U.S. and with the U.K. and with other neighbors, including Russia,” she continued. “We have to fight for our own future ourselves.”
During a meeting with European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Thursday, Trump said the Germans are “very bad” on trade.
“Look at the millions of cars they sell in the U.S., and we’ll stop that,” Trump said.
Trump’s national economic adviser Gary Cohn clarified Trump “doesn’t have a problem with Germany.”
Trump also declined to join the G7 declaration to uphold the Paris climate agreement.
Germany, France, Canada, Italy, Japan and the U.K. reaffirmed their “strong” support to the agreement on Saturday, which seeks to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.
Trump tweeted this weekend he would make a final decision on whether to stay or withdraw from the agreement next week. A report Saturday said the president has already told his EPA chief Scott Pruitt the US will exit the international pact.
