German Chancellor Angela Merkel is standing by her suggestion that Europe can no longer entirely rely on the US, as she prepares to host US President Donald Trump at the Group of 20 summit.
Merkel made the comment during a campaign event in late May, shortly after the G-7 summit in Italy, AP reported.
Asked in an interview with the weekly Die Zeit published on Wednesday whether she would repeat it today, she replied: “Yes, exactly that way.”
“It is, for example, open whether we can and should in the future rely on the US investing so much as it has so far in the United Nations’ work, in Middle East policy, in European security policy or in peace missions in Africa,” Merkel was quoted as saying.
She conceded that “we really don’t have a legal claim to the Americans committing themselves everywhere in the world”.
