On the day the Indian Prime Minister visited Germany Donald Trump resumed his attacks on Germany's trade surpuls and NATO contributions
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi , on the German stop of his European tour that pointedly does not include Britain, has told German Chancellor Angela Merkel that India will stay in the Paris climate deal even if the US pulls out.
America was on both leader’s minds, and Merkel felt comments she made on Monday doubting America’s reliability as an ally needed clarification.
“Our trans-Atlantic relationship is of the utmost importance and the statement I made, or what I said recently, is due to the fact that, in the face of the present circumstances we have additional reasons for us to realise that we have to take our fate in our own hands in Europe,” she said.
What’s brewing in Germany? https://t.co/gOoYfula1B
— The Economist (@TheEconomist) 29 mai 2017
US President Donald Trump has been lambasting Germany for months, using the country’s trade surplus with the US as a symbol of how the US has lost its “greatness”. He did it again on Tuesday, just ahead of the Modi meeting.
Merkel tried to get Trump to commit to the Paris accord at the weekend’s G7 meeting. No dice, even if some European diplomats said they saw Trump as a president who listens.
Others, however, like Italy’s Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, hosting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Rome, publicly agree with Merkel.