#german-foreign-office

#german-foreign-office

After the tensions of the George W. Bush era, the new US president's approval ratings among Germans skyrocketed. According to a Pew Research Center survey, 93% of Germans believed Obama would "do the right thing regarding world affairs." That remains a record to this day. Even in 2016, at the end of his second term, an extraordinary 86% of Germans still trusted Obama.

She had intended to speak about the flashpoints in international politics, Greenland and Ukraine, and US President Donald Trump, but the journalists present kept returning to the issue of the Mercosur agreement and how her party scuppered its ratification. Mercosur, the EU's major trade deal with the four South American countries of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay, was meant to be a sign of hope in a world of increasing nationalism a boost to trade based on rules, not punitive tariffs.

Meeting in Munich over the weekend, officials on both sides said they wanted to continue to work together. In the world of geopolitics all eyes were on Southern Germany over the weekend where the Munich Security Conference (MSC) served as the latest make or break moment for Germany-US relations. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz delivered the event's opening speech in which he acknowledged that a rift has opened up with the US, and urged trans-Atlantic partners to repair and revive trust.

Speaking in Doha on Thursday, Merz said that fears of a new conflict had characterised his talks during his trip to the Gulf region. In all my conversations yesterday and today, great concern has been expressed about a further escalation in the conflict with Iran, he said during a news conference. Merz also urged Iran to end what he called aggression and enter into talks, saying Germany would do everything it could to de-escalate the situation and work towards regional stability.

After the Supreme Court declared the tariffs illegal, Trump responded by declaring a new flat rate of 15% tariffs on all trading partners. As such, the EU has paused its ratification of the agreement as it waits to see what will happen with the new tariffs.

We want to achieve stability and predictability in trade relations. A united stance within the European Union is important in this regard. Businesses need planning security, and that applies on both sides of the Atlantic. We therefore expect clarity from the US government on the next steps.

We want to speed up the European Union, we want to make it better, and we want to ensure that we have a competitive industry in Europe.

Now is not the time to ease sanctions, for whatever reason. Moscow continues to show no willingness to negotiate and pressure on the Kremlin must increase. Germany and its allies will continue backing Ukraine, and the Iran conflict will not distract from that effort.

But we should be under no illusions, he added, pointing out that China, as a rival to the United States, now claims the right to define a new multilateral order according to its own rules.

"European NATO members are under pressure from the United States to build up their defence spending. Though they pledged last June to raise their defence and security-related outlays to five percent of GDP by 2035, Wadephul said progress in Europe so far had been lacking. "Unfortunately, efforts in the French Republic have also been insufficient to achieve this so far," Wadephul said. "France, too, needs to do what we are doing here with difficult discussions."