German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would work on Germany’s “under pressure” relationship with the US but that Washington could no longer be relied on to deliver world order.
In a wide-ranging news conference, Merkel described Germany’s relationship with the US as “crucial”, even after US President Donald Trump last week accused Berlin of being a “captive” of Russia due to its energy reliance.
Merkel, 64, is facing criticism at home and abroad as she tries to hold together her fractious coalition, dogged by infighting over immigration policy, while also dealing with Trump and a raft of foreign policy challenges, including Brexit.
Last week, Trump said Germany was wrong to support an $11 billion (R147.6bn) Baltic Sea pipeline to import even more Russian gas while being slow to meet targets for NATO spending.
Asked about her working relationship with Trump, Merkel said: “One can say that the values, or our usual framework, are under strong pressure at the moment.
“However, the transatlantic working relationship, including with the US president, is crucial for us and I will carry on cultivating it,” she added.
Merkel, who grew up in Communist East Germany, welcomed Trump’s invitation to Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet in Washington later this year but added she had been right to say a year ago that Europe could no longer rely on the US to impose order on the world, and that it needed to take matters close to home into its own hands.