German chancellor hopeful says Trump win risks
transatlantic collapse
Norbert Röttgen says a Joe Biden victory would present
the opportunity for a new beginning.
By MATTHEW
KARNITSCHNIG 9/28/20, 4:03 AM CET Updated 9/28/20, 3:26 PM CET
BERLIN — A
senior member of Germany’s ruling conservatives delivered a stark warning on
the future of transatlantic ties, saying the reelection of Donald Trump as U.S.
president could endanger the alliance and open the door for China and other
powers to try and fill the vacuum.
Norbert
Röttgen, the chairman of the Bundestag’s foreign affairs committee and one of
three candidates in the running to take over the leadership of the center-right
Christian Democrats (CDU), told POLITICO in an interview that cooperation
between the U.S. and Europe would be in serious jeopardy if Trump wins the
November 3 election.
"The
current American administration is driven by a logic of punishment whenever
others do not abide,” Röttgen said. “It isn’t possible to build a partnership
on this basis.”
Members of
Germany’s ruling parties usually try to avoid taking sides in American
campaigns. Röttgen’s frank criticism, just weeks before the U.S. election,
reflects both the nervousness in Berlin over the prospects of a second Trump
term and the depth of frustration over his first. He suggested that Germany’s
experience with the Trump administration thus far has left little hope for
finding common ground if he's reelected.
“The U.S.
would see its ability to take international leadership erode further,” Röttgen
said. “A country that is internally divided and full of acrimony will at some
point lose the ability to shape foreign affairs, so we’d see the American
retreat from international politics continue, creating a vacuum that others
would be more than happy to fill.”
“Should Joe
Biden win, I would expect his government to return to a partnership based on
rational thinking and cooperation” — Norbert Röttgen
The remarks
are all the more revealing considering Germany's heavy reliance on the U.S.,
both for its security and in economic terms. The U.S. is Germany's biggest
export market and a crucial base for a number of major German corporations,
including marquee manufacturers such as BMW and Daimler, which owns Mercedes.
That a leading
German conservative would speak so bluntly about the administration underscores
just how dysfunctional the German-U.S. relationship has become. Trump has
regularly lambasted Germany since he took office over everything from its
modest defense spending to its refugee policies. Attempts by Chancellor Angela
Merkel to find common ground largely fell flat and the relationship hit a new
low in July with Trump's decision to withdraw about 12,000 U.S. troops
stationed in the country.
Trump's
attacks have triggered a collapse in Germans’ opinions of the U.S. Only about a
quarter of Germans have a “favorable” opinion of the U.S., down from nearly 60
percent in 2016, according to a study released this month by the Pew Research
Center.
Röttgen,
55, has been a standard-bearer for the transatlantic alliance for decades and
is a familiar face on Capitol Hill, especially among Republicans, long the
natural allies of Germany’s conservatives. Aside from Merkel and Bundestag
President Wolfgang Schäuble, he is arguably the best-known and respected German
conservative outside Germany.
Though
Röttgen is considered a longshot to win the CDU’s leadership contest, his
candidacy has been buoyed by a string of international crises, such as the
political upheaval in Belarus, that have allowed him to put his foreign policy
skills on display. Winning the CDU job would make Röttgen a leading candidate
to succeed Merkel after next year's election, when she has said she will step
down.
Even as he
predicted a dark future for the transatlantic alliance if Trump wins, Röttgen
said a Joe Biden victory would present the opportunity for a new beginning.
“Should Joe
Biden win, I would expect his government to return to a partnership based on
rational thinking and cooperation,” Röttgen said during the interview in his
Bundestag office, recalling his interactions with the Democratic nominee when
he was still a senator.
“A new
American administration will understand that the goal shouldn’t be to force
American positions on Germans and Europeans, but rather to find a new division
of labor,” he said. “Both sides need to contribute.”
One area of
focus would be China, he said. While the Trump administration’s assessment of
China as a long-term systemic threat has become bipartisan consensus in Washington,
that is not the case in Europe.
Röttgen
expressed optimism that the transatlantic China strategy that has eluded the
Trump administration could become a reality under Biden.
He added
that he was confident Germany would soon come to a decision over how to deal
with Chinese telecom equipment supplier Huawei, which is vying to build
next-generation wireless networks in Germany. While the U.S. and the U.K. have
decided to ban the company’s equipment over security concerns, Germany
continues to debate the issue.
Though he
has stopped short of endorsing the outright ban on Huawei pushed by Washington,
Röttgen has repeatedly warned of the dangers of embracing Chinese technology,
stressing that Europe must not allow itself “to become dependent and then
susceptible to blackmail.”
It’s a view
that has gradually gained traction in Germany’s political establishment in
recent months and the issue could soon come to a head.
“Over the
past year, we’ve engaged in an intensive debate in Germany, the result of which
has been that we haven’t taken any wrong decisions,” Röttgen said. “It would
now be desirable to make a right decision as soon as possible, one that is
driven by the goal of expanding German and European digital sovereignty. I
am optimistic.”
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário