Retreat from Reliability
Campaigning in a Munich beer tent on May 28, German chancellor Angela Merkel reflected upon Donald Trump’s blitz through Europe at the tail end of his first trip outside the United States. “The times when we could fully rely on others are kind of over,” she said. “We Europeans really need to take our fate into our own hands. . . . We have to fight for our own future, as Europeans, for our destiny.”
Merkel was reflecting on the antagonistic approach to multilateral trade regimes and the Paris climate change agreement Trump had displayed at the NATO summit in Brussels on May 25 and a subsequent meeting of the G7 in Italy.
