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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ibnanv" data-source="post: 23586201" data-attributes="member: 218596">BERLIN (Reuters) - The longer Donald Trump stays in office, the higher  the risk that anti-American forces will gain the upper hand in Germany  and push it into the arms of Russia and China, veteran German diplomat  Wolfgang Ischinger said in an interviewThe chairman of the Munich Security Conference and former ambassador  to Washington was speaking to Reuters days before the publication of his  book “World in Danger”, in which he urges Germans not to giving up on  the United States because of Trump, while also pressing them to accept  more global responsibility. “The longer Trump remains in office,  the harder it will be to stand up to those in this country and elsewhere  in Europe who have been arguing since the Vietnam war that we need to  cut the cord with America the bully,” Ischinger said. “It would  become much harder for the German government to stay the course and  defend this relationship,” he said. “And the forces calling for a closer  relationship with countries like Russia or China might be emboldened.” Since  entering the White House in January last year, Trump has pulled the  United States out of the Paris climate accord, left the Iran nuclear  deal and threatened to withdraw from the World Trade Organisation (WTO).  He has repeatedly attacked Germany for its trade surplus and  lack of defense spending, unsettling a country that has long viewed  America as its closest ally outside of Europe and a bulwark of its  security and defense. A survey by the Pew Research Center last  year indicated that only 35 percent of Germans have a favorable view of  the United States under Trump. A poll by the Koerber Foundation  suggested that Germans see Trump as a bigger foreign policy problem than  authoritarian leaders in North Korea, Russia or Turkey. “SERIOUS VIOLATION” Against  this backdrop, some German politicians are urging the government to  seek closer ties with Moscow and Beijing - two authoritarian powers  whose values diverge from the liberal democracy that Germany has built  in the seven decades since it rose from the ashes of World War Two with  American help. Chancellor Angela Merkel, a strong believer in the  transatlantic relationship, has resisted. Ischinger  expressed particular concern about Trump’s use of sanctions as a  foreign policy tool, and his threat to punish German and other firms  involved in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project with Russia. “If  U.S. sanctions are applied to prevent Nord Stream 2, the repercussions  will be poisonous for the transatlantic relationship,” he said. “Even  if you have doubts about the wisdom of Nord Stream 2, it is hard not to  see this as a serious violation, as an instance of the U.S. forcing its  views on the Europeans.” Ischinger praised Merkel for spelling  out the need for Germany to become more independent but said it was high  time that her words were translated into action. He estimated  that the government would need to raise defense spending by 10-15  billion for the four-year legislative period, if it hopes to meet its  most basic commitments. “We’re not where we should be. And you can even argue that we’ve taken a step backwards in recent years,” Ischinger said. “It’s  not enough to declare that we want to assume more responsibility. We  need to show where the beef is, and that there is beef. There need to be  budgetary consequences.” <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-usa-ischinger-interview/trump-could-push-germany-toward-russia-and-china-veteran-diplomat-says-idUSKCN1LJ1Q5" target="_blank">https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-usa-ischinger-interview/trump-could-push-germany-toward-russia-and-china-veteran-diplomat-says-idUSKCN1LJ1Q5</a></blockquote>

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