'Enhver, der mener, at det transatlantiske partnerskab igen vil være, hvad det engang var med en Demokratisk præsident, undervurderer de strukturelle ændringer,' sagde ministeren til det tyske nyhedsagentur dpa og antydede, at forbindelserne mellem de to allierede aldrig vil blive det samme, selv uden Præsident Donald Trump ved roret i Washington.
Stadigvæk indrømmede han også, at Berlin endnu ikke er klar til at opgive sin mangeårige alliance med Washington. 'De transatlantiske forbindelser er ekstraordinært vigtige, de vil forblive vigtige, og vi arbejder for at sikre, at de får en fremtid,' sagde han.
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It's not about Trump: Berlin says relations with US are so bad even Democrats back in White House cannot fix them
Relations between the two NATO allies have indeed soured under Trump's presidency to the point that the German media started referring to Berlin as the "favorite adversary" of the American leader. Trump repeatedly castigated Berlin over its failure to meet the two-percent defense expenditure threshold under its NATO obligations.
Most recently, he decided to pull almost 10,000 out of 34,500 US troops currently stationed in Germany, adding that he would not bring them back until Berlin pays its "delinquent" NATO bills.
Washington also repeatedly clashed with Berlin over the fate of Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline - a project supported by Germany that the US seemingly sought to bring down at any cost.
A 25 percent steel tariff and a 10 percent aluminum tariff Trump imposed on the EU which severely affected Germany's car industry did not make relations between the two any better either. Neither did Washington's threats to slap imported cars with tariffs, which German Chancellor Angela Merkel called "a real threat to the prosperity of many in the world." She also warned that Europe should be ready for a reality without the US as a world power.
Kommentar: See also: Europe, US, China, Russia, the failing economy, populism: Angela Merkel interview in full