After attending a G-7 summit in which President Donald Trump split from other world leaders on issues of climate change, trade, and refugees, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told her country that Germany could no longer rely on the US and UK for help.
“The times in which we could completely rely on others are on the way out. I’ve experienced that in the last few days,” she said Sunday at an election rally in Southern Germany.
“We Europeans truly have to take our fate into our own hands.”
Merkel brought up the US and the UK’s Brexit explicitly, saying that she hopes to maintain a friendly relationship with the two countries, but that she has come to understand that they are no longer countries to lean on.
At the G7, British Prime Minister Theresa May joined Trump in pushing for explicitly reaffirming countries’ sovereign right to controlling borders and limiting migration levels.
However, Trump was alone on the issue of climate change, and has signaled he may pull out of the Paris Agreement.
Merkel added that she hopes Germany’s relationship with France will strengthen and flourish under new French President Emmanuel Macron, who is staunchly pro-European.
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