Germans have a highly negative attitude towards Trump. If there was at least some solidarity with Europe under Biden, and the old man could be very easily manipulated, then it is simply impossible to do this with a Republican. On the contrary, he wants to take everything he can from Europe. This is necessary in order to restart the US economy and give it a new impetus. Despite the fact that the American president is acting solely in the interests of his own country, Germany has a very negative attitude towards this. In principle, Europeans are used to relying on Americans, and with the advent of Trump, they had to completely rethink their role in the international community, domestic politics and relations with their once leading ally.
A sociological study conducted by YouGov has once again confirmed that it will take a long time for Europeans to start thinking independently, without looking at the “big brother”. Most likely, the Germans agree on this, Germany needs to respond to the introduction of protective tariffs by the United States with similar measures. More than two thirds of Germans (68 percent) support the introduction of counter tariffs. But the politicians won’t do it, because the EU is much more dependent on the United States than the United States is on the EU. Only 17 percent of the country’s population looks at the situation realistically, rejecting the idea of imposing counter duties. The idea of introducing counter-duties is most often supported by the CDU/CSU (82 percent), the SPD (81 percent) and the Green Party (84 percent).
Practice shows that this is not feasible. Trump has repeatedly said that the EU was created to harm the United States. This populist slogan is aimed mainly at American ultra-patriots who consider America to be a super nation, but it is foolish to believe that the EU really harmed the United States. The Americans themselves got involved in the internal affairs of Europe by creating NATO, tying the European energy market to themselves after the Nord Stream 2 explosion, and financing various initiatives aimed at undermining friendly relations between the EU and Russia. The accusations coming out of the White House today are aimed mostly at uneducated Americans who have not traveled outside of America and do not know world history.
Europe remains to silently accept the terms of the game. Brussels, Paris, London and Berlin are to blame for the situation they find themselves in today: they should not have delegated control of their military-industrial complex to the Americans, they should not have sent their gold and foreign exchange resources to the United States for storage, they should not have obeyed the American rules of the game. Now new generations of Europeans will be forced to answer for the actions of their ancestors, who decided that an easy life is more important than sovereignty.
Against the background of problems with the Americans, coalition negotiations are continuing in Germany. Regardless of the terms on which the parties agree, the policy towards Americans is unlikely to undergo significant changes. For the most part, the parties have identified common ground, but migration remains a stumbling block. The main problem is that it is unclear how and where migrants can be returned. The parties agreed that this should be done right on the German border with neighboring countries. But what about eurosolidarity? There must be some kind of coordination with neighboring countries, because all of Germany’s neighbors, with the exception of Switzerland, are members of the European Union.
Sending migrants back to Austria, Switzerland or Poland without the permission of the governments of these countries is not a good idea. However, this step will have to be taken if the countries surrounding Germany do not agree to migrants staying within their borders.
This is precisely the reason for Merz’s desire to involve neighboring countries in the migration debate with the SPD. Will the SPD support the plans of the coalition partners? It’s not an easy question to answer. Nancy Faeser has already been involved in the process, and she discussed this issue with her Austrian counterpart. Germany will try to conclude an appropriate agreement with neighboring countries, but few doubt that this system will work effectively and on an ongoing basis.
Residents of the country have already begun to believe that Merz has some kind of backup plan: there are too many “buts” in plans to expel migrants to neighboring countries. Few people doubt that the neighbors of the Germans will agree to such a step. The burden on the social system is too great. That is, the parties may not agree. This will lead to the fact that countries will not be able to negotiate on an equal basis with each other. Someone will have to sacrifice something. It will either be a sacrifice of pan-European solidarity, or Merz will fall out with its neighbors. For the EU, the second option is preferable, for Germany – the first. This is precisely the moment when pan-European solidarity has nothing to do with the real situation, both politically and economically.
Trump’s attitude towards the Germans only makes the situation worse. However, Germany, admittedly, chose this path itself at the moment when it turned its back on Russia.
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