Germany harshly criticize Trump over Group of Seven U-turn

CAIRO – 11 June 2018: Germany sharply criticized US President Donald Trump’s decision to abruptly withdraw his support for a Group of Seven communique, accusing him of destroying trust and acting inconsistently, Euronews reported on Sunday.

Having left the G7 summit in Canada early, Trump’s announcement on Twitter that he was backing out of the joint communique torpedoed what appeared to be a fragile consensus on a trade dispute between Washington and its top allies.

“In a matter of seconds, you can destroy trust with 280 Twitter characters,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said when asked about Trump’s U-turn, adding it would take much longer to rebuild lost trust.

Trump’s conduct was “actually not a real surprise, we have seen this with the climate agreement or the Iran deal,” Maas, a senior member of the Social Democrats, a partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s governing coalition said.

“We have to keep a cool head now and draw the right conclusions,” Maas said.

Europe’s answer must be to stick even closer together, defend its interests and strengthen alliances with countries such as Japan and Canada, he said.

“Europe united is the answer to America First,” Maas said in a tweet.

A German government spokesman said that Berlin continues to support the G7 communique despite Trump’s decision.