Germany’s foreign minister said the country’s shaky relationship with the U.S. may not recover even if Joe Biden becomes president, Deutsche Welle reports.
Heiko Mass told German press agency DPA that diplomatic ties between the two countries may never be the same again.
“Everyone who thinks everything in the trans-Atlantic partnership will be as it once was with a Democratic president underestimates the structural changes,” Mass told DPA on Sunday. “The trans-Atlantic relations are extraordinarily important, they remain important, and we are working to ensure they have a future. But with the way they are now, they are no longer fulfilling the demands both sides have for them.”
President Donald Trump has clashed with German Chancellor Angela Merkel for years on a swath of topics, CNBC reports.
Trump has been critical of Germany's defense spending. He has threatened to put U.S. tariffs on German car exports, he has questioned Germany's relationship with Russia in regard to a gas piepline project the two countries are working on, and has pulled U.S. troops out of Germany.
Trump and Merkel also have clashed over the Group of Seven, known as the G-7 alliance of the U.S., U.K., Germany, Canada, France, Italy, and Japan. Merkel turned down Trump's invitation to travel to Washington, D.C., to meet amid the coronavirus pandemic.
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