Merkel leads bashing of Trump treatment of allies
MUNICH» An annual security conference where Western allies have long forged united fronts erupted Saturday into a fullscale assault on the Trump administration’s foreign policy.
European leaders, wouldbe Democratic challengers and even President Donald Trump’s Republican backers took the floor to rebuke the president’s go-it-alone approach.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel — habitually cautious about provoking Trump — led the charge, unleashing a stinging, point-by-point takedown of the administration’s tendency to treat its allies as adversaries.
The speech appeared to provide much-needed catharsis. Trump’s antagonistic behavior has bred two years of accumulated grievance in much of Europe but has been met with few substantive answers on how to effectively challenge it.
Merkel accused the United States of strengthening Iran and Russia with its plans for a speedy military pullout from Syria. She expressed shock that the Trump administration would deem BMWS made in South Carolina a threat to national security.
And she lamented that the U.s.-led global order “has collapsed into many tiny parts.”
The crowd gave the German chancellor an extended standing ovation — a rare display at the normally button-down Munich Security Conference. The customarily reserved Merkel beamed as she took her seat. Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and a top adviser, looked on from the crowd, stone-faced.
The speech, and the response, underscored just how far apart the United States has drifted from its traditional allies during Trump’s term — and how little Europeans care about concealing their contempt.
At last year’s conference, U.S. allies in Europe were reluctant to voice out loud the depths of their concerns with the state of the transatlantic relationship, said Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group.
“Now there’s a lot more openly displayed anger about the fact that the relationship is broken,” Bremmer said. “The Trump administration doesn’t understand that it’s not just about how much people pay. It’s about a relationship, trust, how you communicate, shared values. That all matters.”
Merkel was followed to the podium Saturday by Vice President Mike Pence, who was met with only tepid applause — and some incredulous looks — when he proclaimed Trump “the leader of the free world.”
“We came here to reaffirm our commitment that ‘America First’ does not mean America alone and tell leaders, allies and countries around the world that America is stronger than ever before and America’s leading on the world stage once again,” Pence said.
Hours after Pence left the stage, his predecessor, Joe Biden, took to the podium to deliver a speech full of praise for multilateralism, allies and cooperative decision-making — the very rhetoric that Europe had been accustomed to hearing from presidents of both parties before Trump’s election.