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If his embarrassing public tirade directed at our NATO allies for not paying their dues wasn’t bad enough – as if the massive defense alliance should be run like his Mar-a-Lago country club – news broke in German media today revealing insensitive and ignorant statements President Trump made about the German auto industry.
The President appears to be laying the groundwork for a trade war with Germany that could threaten American consumers’ access to popular German cars. In conversations with leaders from the NATO block, Trump reportedly said, according to Der Spiegel and other german media, that, “The Germans are evil, very evil. Look at the millions of cars they sell in the US, and we’ll stop that.”
Per Der Spiegel:
“According to a report from the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, the EU side was terrified about the lack of awareness of the Americans about trade policy. Apparently, it was unclear to the guests that the EU countries had already concluded trade agreements with the USA. Trump’s economic consultant Gary Cohn said in another conversation between the USA and Germany that there should be tariffs.”
This isn’t a new line of attack for the bellicose President. Back in January, before the inauguration, President Elect Trump gave a series of interviews to German media outlets that left German leaders “dismayed and bewildered.” He reportedly told interviewers from Germany’s Bildnewspaper, “I would say to BMW if they want to build a factory in Mexico and sell cars to the US without a 35 percent tax, they can forget that.”
Our allies are getting tired of the shallow, serially disinterested and uninformed American President shooting from the hip on matters that demand an intellectual deep-dive to fully appreciate and comprehend their complexities.
Appreciation and comprehension of these serious matters are two things sorely missing from this White House.
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