Tabnak - Not a long time has passed since Trump’s inauguration as the
president of the United States, but it is already proved that he is the man of contradictions.
In his latest dual behavior on a single issue, he has taken different positions
about Germany and his visit with the German Chancellor.
At a joint press conference at the White House on Friday,
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Germany would meet its previously
stated goal of increasing its military spending to 2 percent of its GDP by
2024.
In his turn, Donald Trump said that he had thanked Ms.
Merkel for that commitment, but hinted that he was impatient over whether
Germany and other countries would "pay what they owe.” "Many nations owe vast
sums of money from past years, and it is very unfair to the United States,” the
US president said.
However, Trump evaluated his meeting with Merkel as "great”
and although the meeting was really empty from those friendly gestures of Obama
era, it seemed that the two sides had managed to build a bridge out of their
differences and find a way to keep the bilateral cooperation going.
However, in a tweet today, Trump apparently broke from his
yesterday positions, blasting Germany for not paying enough to manage NATO
affairs.
In a report of the story the "Washington Post” writes that Trump
said Saturday that Germany owes "vast sums of money” to NATO and the US "must
be paid more” for providing defense, reiterating his stance that European
allies need to meet their end of the bargain if they are to continue benefiting
from the military alliance.
The "Los Angeles Times” notes that the real difference in
latest Trump’s position comparing to his remarks Friday is that this time, he
exactly named Germany as a country not really obliged to its NATO commitments.
In fact, Trump didn't single out Germany for NATO bills as
he stood next to Merkel and addressed reporters' questions on Friday at a news
conference.
"Many nations owe vast sums of money from past years,
and it is very unfair to the United States," Trump said. "These
nations must pay what they owe." He then thanked Merkel for Germany's
commitment to increase its defense spending.
However, it should be noted that such conflicting view on
Germany’s commitments, was not the only interesting point in the latest visit
of the two leaders.
American website "Politico” writes that Merkel had several
awkward exchanges with Trump Friday. During an Oval Office photo op, Merkel
asked to shake the president's hand, which Trump ignored and continued to stare
at the cameras. It is unclear whether Trump heard Merkel. The two shook hands
earlier in the day.
All in all, the visit and its following events proves the
earlier speculations that in the new era during Trump’s presidency, the US’
European allies would have a challenging and tense relations with Washington,
with the future of the so-called "trans-Atlantic partnership” becoming unclear.
