GERMANY - Germany should be more assertive in setting foreign policy according to its own interests rather than to those of the United States, the German foreign minister said on Tuesday. The traditional view of the United States as having a protecting role was beginning to “crumble”, Sigmar Gabriel told an audience of politicians and government representatives at the Koerber Foundation.
“Germany cannot afford to wait for decisions from Washington, or to merely react to them. We must lay out our own position and make clear to our allies where the limits of our solidarity are reached,” Gabriel said in the speech, excerpts of which had been published by Sueddeutsche Zeitung ahead of time.
Germans see US President Donald Trump as a bigger challenge for German foreign policy than authoritarian leaders in North Korea, Russia or Turkey, a survey published by the Koerber Foundation showed.