Berlin is ready to work more closely with the new US administration and increase military spending, the German Foreign Office has said Read Full Article at RT.com
The foreign minister previously said she knows how to deal with her US counterpart because she once lived in Florida
The EU, and Germany in particular, is ready to work more closely with the new US administration and shoulder more military spending, the German Foreign Office has announced.
In a phone call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock stressed Berlin’s readiness to work with US President Donald Trump’s new administration, the federal office said on Monday in a post on X.
“Europe is ready to take greater responsibility for its own security,” Baerbock told Rubio, according to the post. Among other matters, the diplomats reportedly discussed shared interests, including NATO, the Middle East and the Ukraine conflict.
Baerbock told Bild last week that she “once lived in Florida, that should not be underestimated,” when asked how she would deal with Rubio when he calls her. Although she insisted that supporting Kiev remains a priority for Berlin, the State Department readout of the call on Monday made no mention of Ukraine among the “wide range of mutual interests.”
The call follows Trump’s demand that members of the US-led military bloc increase their defense spending to 5% of GDP, a substantial rise from the current 2% minimum target, which many NATO countries have struggled to achieve. Berlin announced last week that it had met the 2% spending target for 2024.
In a press conference last week, Trump also reiterated his demand that the EU increase its spending on Ukraine aid. “The European Union should be paying a lot more than they’re paying because... We’re in there for $200 billion more than the European Union,” he told reporters when asked about future aid to Kiev.
According to data from Germany’s Kiel Institute, as of October 2024, EU countries and the UK allocated around €125 billion ($131 billion) to financial and military aid to Ukraine, whereas the US allocated around $92 billion. The US Congress has authorized a total of $175 billion for Ukraine, but a large portion of the sum funds American industries and various US government activities associated with the conflict.
Among his first acts in office, Trump suspended US foreign aid for 90 days to review its alignment with his administration’s objectives and promised to put “America first.”
The US president has also vowed to negotiate a resolution to the Ukraine conflict. On Wednesday, Trump threatened to impose further sanctions on Russia if Moscow refuses to accept a deal, but did not specify any terms.
Russia has maintained its core demands that Ukraine renounce any ambitions to join NATO, limit the size of its military, and remain nuclear-free, while insisting that Kiev must recognize the territorial “realities on the ground.” Moscow has stressed that it is open to dialogue with the legitimate authorities in Kiev, as well as with the new administration in Washington, but that any deal would have to provide “reliable, legally binding agreements eliminating the root causes of the conflict.”
