Vice-President of the German Bundestag, at a meeting with the chairman of the Russian Federal Council’s Foreign Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev, shared Russia’s concerns over the unreliable behavior of the US leaders, stressing that he saw Germany’s role in taking the lead in Europe, including in normalizing EU-Russia ties.
“I fully share your concern over the unpredictability of the US policy. This leads to the need for Germany to step up and take the lead when it comes to the EU affairs, including with respect to Russia,” Wolfgang Kubicki said.
Speaking about the latest decisions of US President Donald Trump’s administration, such as its unilateral withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, despite pleas of EU leaders to the contrary, and the new round of anti-Russia sanctions, Kubicki stressed that these moves created additional challenges for the EU-US relations.
The vice-president also mentioned that Washington’s new 25-percent and 10-percent tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, respectively, provoked resentment from European leaders.
The United States imposed the metal tariffs in late March. According to Trump, the tariffs will be in place for a long time. The European Union and a number of other countries have been granted temporary exemptions from tariffs that will expire on Friday.
In late February, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said that the actions of the United States had resulted in a further deepening of mistrust and revealed Washington as an “unreliable partner.”