Germany’s Scholz tells Trump: ‘We’re better off together’

Copyright AFP Ronda Churchill

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday congratulated US presidential election winner Donald Trump and urged continued close trans-Atlantic ties, telling him in English: “We’re better off together”.

“Together we can achieve much more than against each other,” added the centre-left leader of Europe’s biggest economy.

“Both sides benefit from the trans-Atlantic partnership,” Scholz said in a statement to media. “The EU and the USA are two similarly large economic areas, linked by the closest economic relations in the world.”

In an earlier message posted on X, Scholz said that “Germany and the USA have long been working together successfully to promote prosperity and freedom on both sides of the Atlantic. 

“We will continue to do so for the benefit of our citizens.” 

The messages amounted to a pledge for a fresh start after Trump’s last term in the White House, when he berated the NATO ally on what he deemed insufficient defence spending as well as on trade and other issues.

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, just back from a visit to war-torn Ukraine, said that “Germany will be a close, reliable ally for the future American government, that is what we are offering”. 

“As in any good partnership, where there are undoubtedly political differences, an honest and above all intensive exchange is more important than ever.”

She said that during her visit to Ukraine as it continues to fight against Russian forces, “I have felt more clearly than ever before how much depends on Europeans and Americans standing up together for freedom, international law and democracy.”

Concern has risen in Ukraine and across Europe as Trump has criticised the scale of US defence spending for Kyiv, and many fear his pledge to bring peace “in 24 hours” could amount to a deal on Moscow’s terms.

Baerbock said a just peace “will only be possible with the Ukrainians, with the Europeans and with the USA”. 

“For me, for us, it is clear: We Europeans will now have to take on even more responsibility for security policy.”

Norbert Roettgen, a veteran foreign policy expert from the conservative German opposition party CDU, described Trump’s victory in less diplomatic terms.

“Trump is unpredictable,” he told the Rheinische Post daily. “If there were further support for Ukraine under him, that would be a surprise. He believes that the Europeans should do it themselves, and this position is popular in the USA.”

He predicted a “period of stress in trans-Atlantic relations” and said it would be up to Europe “to do our part much more quickly and comprehensively for the trans-Atlantic partnership.”

One of the first German politicians to congratulate Trump was Alice Weidel of the far-right Alternative for Germany, who wrote on X early Wednesday: “Congratulations to Donald J. Trump on becoming the 47th President of the United States!”