May 28 (UPI) — Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday that Germany no longer can “rely fully” on its allies, including President Donald Trump, who refused to commit the United States to the Paris climate accord during the G7 summit.
Merkel, campaigning in Munich for a fourth, four-year term in the September elections, did not name the country or leader but she clearly was referring to the United States.
Trump said Saturday he will decide this week whether to commit to the goals of the 195-nation climate agreement in 2015 that was endorsed by former U.S. President Barack Obama.
Trump said Germany is “very bad” for its trade practices, including sales of autos, and the country was one of the NATO members Trump singled out for not adequately supporting the alliance financially in defense with 2 percent of their gross domestic product.
“The times in which we could rely fully on others, they are somewhat over,” she said at the campaign event. “This is what I experienced in the last few days.”
Six nations at the summit in Sicily — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Great Britain — backed the climate accord.
“The whole discussion about climate was very difficult, not to say unsatisfactory,” she said. “There’s a situation where it’s six — if you count the European Union, seven — against one.”
“This is not just any old agreement, but it is a central agreement for shaping globalization,” she said, adding, “There are no signs of whether the U.S. will stay in the Paris accords or not.”
She’s also dealing with Britain’s decision last year to depart the European Union.
And she had to intervene with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Brussels to settle a dispute over visits to German troops stationed in Turkey.
While Merkel said Sunday that it was important for Germany to maintain friendly relations with the U.S. and the United Kingdom, the country “would have to fight for our own future ourselves.”
Merkel is counting on a strong relationship with new French President Emmanuel Macron.
