The art of compromise is not for Donald Trump, says Angela Merkel

Photo: Patricia de Melo Moreira Archives Agence France-Presse Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in July 2023

Fabien Deglise

Published yesterday at 14:37 Updated yesterday at 17:28

• United States

Relations between the United States and the rest of the world are likely to get complicated quickly, according to former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who noted Tuesday that Donald Trump is not really the kind of leader who believes “in the quality of compromise.”

“Donald Trump, as president, is a person who holds very strongly to his ideas, that’s natural,” said Merkel, who came to discuss the release this week in North America of her political memoir, titled Freedom (Liberté), on the airwaves of the American public broadcaster NPR. “This is what all the presidents of the United States and all the chancellors do. But Donald Trump believes less than others in the capacity or in the quality of a compromise. He wants to be the only winner […] and does not believe in a win-win solution for both parties. This makes collaboration more difficult and different from that with other heads of government,” added the woman who was head of the German government from 2005 to 2021, recalling a meeting with the Republican in 2017, during the populist’s first term.

Photo: Evan Vucci Archives Associated Press Donald Trump and Angela Merkel at the NATO summit in Watford, England, in 2019

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Donald Trump’s return to the White House next January already heralds many points of tension, including for Canada, which the president-elect threatened Monday evening with 25% customs tariffs on all products exported to the United States on day 1 of his presidency.

The move is aimed at forcing Ottawa to take drastic measures to counter what the Republican calls an “invasion” of fentanyl and illegal immigrants crossing the southern and northern borders of the United States.

However, between October 1, 2023 and September 30, 2024, U.S. customs authorities seized 43 pounds of fentanyl along its northern border with Canada, or 0.2% of the volume seized along its border with Mexico, the Washington Post reported Tuesday. And in the past year, 19,000 illegal immigrants have been intercepted at the northern border of the United States. That represents 0.9 percent of arrests made at its southern border, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.

Threat to NATO

Donald Trump returns to Washington with the prospect of an easing of American relations with Russia, but also with North Korea. He promised to end the war in Ukraine in “24 hours”, threatening to weaken NATO by withdrawing American interests.

During his election campaign, the billionaire called on member countries to contribute more to the Alliance’s coffers and even encouraged Russia to attack and do “whatever it wants” against those who do not pay. An incitement to aggression inscribed in a transactional perspective and a clear support for the expansionism of the Kremlin dictator who raised the ire of the international community at the time.

“I hope that Donald Trump, as he did in his first term, will understand that NATO is not only about protecting Europe, with the support of the United States and Canada, but that the partnership with Europe is also beneficial to the United States of America,” Merkel said, while refusing to believe that the change of guard at the head of the American executive branch will put an end to “American leadership” on the international stage. “I don't want to believe that this is the end. I don't believe it and I hope not,” the former chancellor insisted.

As the former leader of a country that experienced first-hand the rise of an authoritarian regime, first democratically elected and then descending into horror, Merkel said that as we enter a new chapter in American political history, many citizens of the United States continue to protect “the institutions of the country: the courts, the judiciary, free elections.”

“A lot of people are coming together to seek compromise and resolve differences peacefully,” she said. “Silence, not talking to each other unless you insult each other, is a step backward in our civilization. And I think a lot of people should oppose that and oppose science to that kind of thing,” Merkel concluded.