By Meletus EZE
Europe can no longer fully rely on Washington and should develop its relationship with the United States in a new way, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Monday.
“Europe cannot entirely rely on the White House,’’ Maas told the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.
According to the foreign minister, building a new partnership with the United States will be possible only if Europe is confident and independent.
European countries should be more united despite the verbal attacks and “absurd’’ statements of U.S. President Donald Trump, he added.
In a Saturday interview with the CBS broadcaster, Trump called the European Union a U.S. foe as far as trade relations between the two sides were concerned.
Moreover, before the NATO summit, which took place earlier in Brussels, Trump posted tweets saying that the U. S. was spending far more on NATO than any other member state.
Even though the European Union had a trade surplus with the country during the summit, the U.S. president also questioned NATO’s usefulness.