{"id":38961,"date":"2018-05-01T14:30:20","date_gmt":"2018-05-01T04:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=38961"},"modified":"2018-05-01T13:18:37","modified_gmt":"2018-05-01T03:18:37","slug":"frau-merkel-goes-washington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/frau-merkel-goes-washington\/","title":{"rendered":"Frau Merkel goes to Washington"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Washington on 27\u00a0April for only the second time since Donald Trump became president. It was described as a \u2018working visit\u2019 and lasted just 22\u00a0hours, including about two and a half hours with the president.<\/p>\n

The sparsity of these visits (they\u2019ve also met twice in Europe, including at the 2017\u00a0G20 meeting in Hamburg) is partly explained by the paralysis in Germany as a result of the 171\u00a0days it took to form a government after the September\u00a02017 elections. But there\u2019s no getting around the facts that the two leaders have little personal chemistry, their world views are poles apart and there are major policy differences between them.<\/p>\n

Chancellor Merkel\u2019s first visit to Washington in March\u00a02017 was overshadowed by President Trump\u2019s apparent refusal\u2014now described by the President as a \u2018misunderstanding\u2019\u2014to shake hands with her. Then, after the G7\u00a0summit in May\u00a02017 in Sicily, at which the President\u2019s views on key issues such as climate change appeared uniformly run counter to European views, the Chancellor made her landmark public comment to the effect that Europe was now on its own and could no longer rely on others.<\/p>\n

The subsequent media speculation that Chancellor Merkel might become the leader of the West, given disillusionment with the US President, wouldn\u2019t have helped the atmospherics. And it seems as though the President sees Germany as a particularly egregious example of all the wrongs he wants to right.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s accused Germany, among others, of unfair trading practices and intends to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium products from EU countries\u2014including Germany\u2014from today. When the Germans and other Europeans responded with threats of counter-tariffs, Trump replied by singling out German car brands for particular attention.<\/p>\n

He has constantly urged other NATO members to lift substantially their contribution to global security and bear more of the burden for this, especially by meeting NATO\u2019s target of members spending 2%\u00a0of GDP on defence by\u00a02024. Germany has been particularly recalcitrant in this regard: its defence expenditure is currently only 1.2%\u00a0of GDP.<\/p>\n

President Trump is justified in some\u2014but not all\u2014of his criticism. Other EU members have been highly critical of Germany for not investing more of its huge trade surplus within the union. And Germany\u2019s poor showing on defence\u2014although partially explained by history\u2014is not at all commensurate with its size and importance globally and within Europe. There are many within Germany who also argue very strongly for it to accept more responsibility internationally.<\/p>\n

So expectations weren\u2019t high for the Chancellor\u2019s visit to Washington last week. Despite a determined attempt by both leaders to show the assembled media that they got along\u2014kisses, any number of handshakes, smiles, public congratulations from the President on the Chancellor\u2019s re-election\u2014Angela Merkel got precisely nowhere. That despite no doubt putting her arguments on all the important issues as directly and cogently as she can (and she\u2019s a formidable and powerful advocate). On trade, she was forced simply to say, somewhat lamely, that \u2018the President would decide\u2019 on whether to impose steel and aluminium tariffs, a decision that has now been delayed until 1\u00a0June.<\/p>\n

On defence, the Chancellor had to listen to President Trump yet again publicly calling on the Europeans to do far more and accept more of the burden. Her promise, in turn, that Germany would do its bit rang very hollow. It\u2019s far from doing that and has little chance of meeting the NATO target by\u00a02024. Even though the chancellor told the president that this would increase next year to 1.3%, the NATO target isn\u2019t even mentioned in Germany\u2019s grand coalition government (GroKo) agreement between Merkel\u2019s Christian Democrat\/Christian Social Union (CDU\/CSU) and the Social Democrats (SPD).<\/p>\n

On Iran, the President seemed still inclined to withdraw from the nuclear deal, although he did acknowledge that building on the existing deal (as proposed by President Emmanuel Macron) was also a possibility.<\/p>\n

Inevitably, given the coincidence of timing, Chancellor Merkel\u2019s visit is being contrasted with the visit to Washington a couple of days earlier by President Macron. There\u2019s no question but that Mr Trump finds Macron a more congenial partner, and this was reflected in the high profile and pomp of President Macron\u2019s program.<\/p>\n

Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel have approached the trans-Atlantic relationship differently. Mr Macron has tried to get personally close to the president, has hosted him in Paris (with all the trimmings), has announced a sharp increase in French defence expenditure and has been a strong partner for the US, including through French participation in the recent missile strikes in Syria. That has opened the door for President Macron to put French (and European) views openly and clearly, including to Congress, something Angela Merkel wasn\u2019t able to do.<\/p>\n

The Chancellor\u2019s approach has been more direct and policy-oriented, outlining Germany\u2019s position and not hiding differences. For example, she ruled out, in advance, participating in the Syria strikes and has stoutly defended both the Paris climate change accord and the Iran nuclear deal.<\/p>\n

It is, however, too much to contrast Macron\u2019s three-day state visit with Merkel\u2019s 22\u2011hour working visit. That reflects their differing styles, rather than being a deliberate US snub. And their visits to Washington were carefully coordinated: Mr Macron and Frau Merkel had spoken at length on 19\u00a0April, when President Macron visited Berlin, and no doubt were in close touch at the time of their respective visits.<\/p>\n

And President Macron\u2019s approach didn\u2019t result in anything more on trade, Iran or climate change than Chancellor Merkel\u2019s.<\/p>\n

But it seems clear that, at least for now, Macron is filling a vacuum where Germany used to be. Partly reflecting its domestic political circumstances, Germany has been absent for too long on the big issues for Europe and the world. It\u2019s high time that it resumed a leadership role, especially with such a willing and energetic partner as President Macron\u2019s France.<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s no doubt that Macron is staking a claim for European leadership and for being the preferred partner of the\u00a0US in Europe post-Brexit. He recently also outlined a vision\u2014 not necessarily shared by Angela Merkel\u2014for Europe, and defended democracy and Western values, in a significant speech to the European Parliament.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s hope the Chancellor soon rejoins him. It would be a pity if the Washington Post<\/em> proved right with its over-the-top comment on 27\u00a0April that German \u2018hesitation\u2019 risks it becoming \u2018Europe\u2019s weakest link<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Washington on 27\u00a0April for only the second time since Donald Trump became president. It was described as a \u2018working visit\u2019 and lasted just 22\u00a0hours, including about two and a half hours …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":579,"featured_media":38966,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1154,1428,694,31],"class_list":["post-38961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-angela-merkel","tag-donald-trump","tag-germany","tag-united-states"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFrau Merkel goes to Washington | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/frau-merkel-goes-washington\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Frau Merkel goes to Washington | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Washington on 27\u00a0April for only the second time since Donald Trump became president. 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