‘US-German ties will suffer if Trump wins’
berlin — More than three quarters of Germans believe USGerman ties would come under severe strain if Republican candidate Donald Trump is elected president in US elections on November 8, a poll showed on Sunday, a fear echoed by German politicians.
Germany is the United States’ largest European trading partner and the sixth largest market for US exports. The two countries have had close ties since the US helped to rebuild a devastated Germany after World War Two.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has been tight-lipped about Trump, despite his repeated attacks on her decision to welcome nearly one million refugees into the country last year. In September, however, he described Merkel as “a really great world leader”.
But Germany’s President Joachim Gauck, a former Lutheran pastor who was a anticommunist civil rights activist in the former East Germany, said he was worried.
“What causes us concern, among other things, is his unpredictability,” Gauck, a former Lutheran pastor, told Spiegel Online in an interview published on Sunday. “We cannot say what could be expected from a President Donald Trump.” And plenty of other Germans agree with Gauck. A new poll by the Emnid organisation showed 77 per cent of Germany feared strains in USGerman relations if Trump wins the election. By contrast, 67 per cent said they expected Germany’s close ties to the United States to remain unchanged if Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton was elected. Among Germany’s top concerns are Trump’s stance on Russia and on the Nato alliance. —