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Merkel Slams Trump’s ‘Withdrawal in Tweet’ after G7 Fallout

Merkel Slams Trump’s ‘Withdrawal in Tweet’ after G7 Fallout
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel lambasted US President Donald Trump's decision to renege on the G7 joint statement. She further stressed that Europe will not let itself be "deceived" again.

Merkel Slams Trump’s ‘Withdrawal in Tweet’ after G7 Fallout

Merkel described Trump's decision to withdraw his approval of the joi
nt communique following the G7 summit in Canada as a "sobering experience."

She also praised the joint statement itself as a "laboriously negotiated" document.
"The withdrawal by tweet is, of course, sobering and a bit depressing as well," she told Germany's Anne Will talk show on Sunday evening.

"I don't think that inflammatory language makes things better. Sometimes it seems that the American president thinks that only one side wins and everyone else loses," Merkel said, apparently speaking about Trump's verbal attacks against Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. She also praised Trudeau by saying that she is glad that he is "on the EU's side."

Europe will not let Trump do "whatever he pleases," Merkel stressed, adding that "we will not allow ourselves to be deceived again and again."

She also doubted if Trump still has what she called "the spirit of G7."

"We asked him about that," she told Anne Will, adding that his answers "did not sound convincing" to her. She also described her impression from Trump's behavior at the summit as "disillusionment."

At the same time, Merkel stressed that it is too early to give up the dialogue with Washington. She said that she still believes Trump shares the principled stance of the G7 on "many issues."

"There are still good reasons to continue our fight [aimed at keeping close transatlantic partnership], even though we cannot just rely on it anymore," she added.

However, Merkel avoided giving a definitive answer to the question of whether Germany will stop seeing the US as an "important partner." Instead, she said that she would still try to achieve compromises through dialogue and "go her own way" if the dialogue brings no results.

The German chancellor also said she is not ready to "give up on G7"but would seek dialogue with Russia and try to "work very closely" with Japan, Canada, India and China.

Her interview came about a day after Trump refused to endorse the G7 summit's communique that called for reducing tariff barriers.

In his tweets, Trump attacked Trudeau by calling him "dishonest and weak" and denouncing statements as "false."

At a press conference following the summit, Trudeau repeated his earlier description of US trade tariffs as "insulting" and vowed retaliatory measures would come in July.
 For his part, Trump announced that the US would be looking to impose tariffs on car imports.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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