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Donald Trump blasts Germany again as Angela Merkel talks up relations with India

US President Donald Trump blasted Germany anew over trade and defence, ratcheting up a dispute with Chancellor Angela Merkel that risks getting personal and undermining a trans-Atlantic bond that is the bedrock of US-European relations.

Mr Trump's comments came in an early-morning tweet on Tuesday issued just as Mrs Merkel hosted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Berlin, where they held a joint cabinet meeting and signed co-operation agreements.

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Trump hits out at Germany on Twitter

Relations between the US and Germany continue to deteriorate after President Donald Trump blasted its key NATO ally over trade and defense.

"We have a MASSIVE trade deficit with Germany, plus they pay FAR LESS than they should on NATO & military," the US President posted on Twitter. "This will change."

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Later on Tuesday though, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Mr Trump views Germany as an important ally and gets along very well with Mrs Merkel.

"They get along very well. He has a lot of respect for her ... And he views not just Germany but the rest of Europe as an important American ally," Mr Spicer said.

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Mr Trump's tweet came minutes after Mrs Merkel and Mr Modi held a joint press conference in which the German leader called India a "reliable partner with respect to big projects".

That contrasted with her comments on Sunday that Europe needs to step up as trans-Atlantic ties, which have underpinned German foreign policy since World War II, become "to some extent" less dependable.

Mrs Merkel regards her speech on Europe becoming more active internationally as a reflection of the reality during the Ukraine conflict and the refugee crisis, according to a senior German government official with knowledge of her thinking. Her comments may have been interpreted differently in the US, causing an uproar, but that's not her fault, said the official, asking not to be named discussing private deliberations.

Mr Trump's tweet underscored the deterioration of links with a key NATO ally, yet his timing also highlighted Germany's web of relations with international partners who broadly share Mrs Merkel's free-trade outlook and conviction on combating climate change. After hosting Mr Modi, Mrs Merkel is due to meet Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday. She's also looking to French President Emmanuel Macron as an ally in strengthening the euro area.

In a speech to a German-Indian business forum later on Tuesday, Mrs Merkel took another tilt at a President elected on a ticket of "America First", referring to "a whole series of protectionist tendencies" emerging worldwide. She said, "It's necessary to be open to achieve fair trade conditions."

Mrs Merkel, who is campaigning for a fourth term in September elections, stuck to her message at her party bloc's weekly parliamentary caucus meeting.

While trans-Atlantic relations remain of paramount importance, disagreement shouldn't be swept under the carpet, a party official quoted her as telling the closed-door session.

While it's unclear whether Mrs Merkel has deliberately picked a fight with Mr Trump or misspoken and bitten off more than she can chew, challenging his stance is popular in Germany.

Polls suggest that Mrs Merkel has overwhelming backing among German voters, and even among her political opponents, for taking a stand. It's the "calling of our times to stand up to this man with everything that we represent", Social Democrat Martin Schulz, Mrs Merkel's main election challenger, said in a campaign speech late on Monday.

It's also not the first time a German chancellor has clashed with a US president. Mrs Merkel's Social Democratic predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder, publicly disavowed George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq in a trans-Atlantic rift that Mrs Merkel worked to repair upon her election in 2005.

Alongside Mr Modi, Mrs Merkel said that, while trans-Atlantic relations were of "paramount significance", the European Union had to forge its own path in the world "considering the current situation".

"What I said was simply to indicate that here are even more reasons beyond those we already have that Europe needs to take its destiny into its own hands," she said.

Mr Modi, the leader of the world's largest democracy, welcomed a stronger global role for the EU and expressly lauded the bloc's most powerful leader.

"We always want that the European Union should be stronger, should be more active," Mr Modi said. "Through Chancellor Merkel, we will be able to work with the European Union. It's very easy for us."

G20 Summit

Mr Modi's comments contrasted with Mr Trump's meeting with EU leaders in Brussels last week, when he said that Germany is "very bad" for flooding the US with cars, hectored NATO allies on military spending and refused to explicitly back the principle of collective defence. At the Group of Seven summit that followed, Mr Trump's first, passages on free trade and on immigration were substantially altered compared with previous years, while the US was alone in failing to commit to the global Paris climate agreement.

After failing to sway Mr Trump, Mrs Merkel has turned her attention to forging consensus among other G20 nations at a summit meeting she's hosting in Hamburg in July.

Mr Modi signalled that India would move forward on its climate agenda even if the US exits the Paris agreement, saying politicians have "absolutely no right" to put in jeopardy the environment for future generations. He praised Mrs Merkel's experience and Germany's economic example to India.

"We are meant for each other," Mr Modi said.

Bloomberg

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