Clearly disappointed with Mr. Trump’s positions on NATO, Russia, climate change and trade, Ms. Merkel said in Munich on Sunday
that traditional alliances were no longer as steadfast as they once were and that Europe should pay more attention to its own interests “and really take our fate into our own hands.”
“The times in which we could rely fully on others — they are somewhat over,” Ms. Merkel added, speaking on
the campaign trail after a contentious NATO summit meeting in Brussels and a Group of 7 meeting in Italy.
In a statement at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, President Trump said
that members of the alliance must "finally contribute" their fair share to defense spending and that it was “not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States.”
On Saturday, Ms. Merkel was unusually direct in discussing what she called unsatisfying talks on climate change, which is an important issue for many German voters
and a hallmark topic for the chancellor, who first made her mark in the 1990s shepherding an international accord on the environment.
Merkel, After Discordant G-7 Meeting, Is Looking Past Trump -
By ALISON SMALE and STEVEN ERLANGERMAY 28, 2017
BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Europe’s most influential leader, has concluded, after three days of trans-Atlantic meetings,
that the United States of President Trump is not the reliable partner her country and the Continent have automatically depended on in the past.