Merkel's US visit fails to win over Trump

WASHINGTON -- In sharp contrast with his "bromance" with French President Emmanuel Macron, US President Donald Trump treated German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who paid a quick visit Friday, with a belligerent reaffirmation of "America First" in terms of trade, the NATO defense budget, and the Iran nuclear deal.

Trump and Merkel apparently failed to narrow their differences over these issues that have driven the two nations apart since the Trump administration took office in 2017.

"NATO HELPS EUROPE MORE THAN US"

Trump has lashed out at NATO members, Germany in particular, for failing to increase their national defense budget to 2 percent of their GDP, though they had promised in 2014 to achieve it in 10 years.

At the joint press conference with Merkel Friday, he said, "We're protecting Europe and yet, we pay, by far, more than anybody else." "NATO is wonderful but it helps Europe more than it helps us. And why are we paying the vast majority of the costs?" he asked.

In response, Merkel said Germany will earmark 1.3 percent of its GDP for defense in 2019, pointing out that there has been an increase over the past few years.

"We haven't yet met the target where we should be, but we are getting closer to the target ... that we've set up for ourselves," she said.

It was a rare concession by Merkel, who responded to Trump's America First slogan by saying, "We in Europe have to take our fate into our own hands."

Darrell West, a senior fellow at US think tank Brookings Institution, told Xinhua that "Trump has made the relationship worse with his embrace of ultra-nationalism and rude behavior towards US allies."

"If that continues, it will cause the US and EU to drift further apart," West said.