Donald Trump’s comments that the European Union is a vehicle for Germany and predicted that the United Kingdom won’t be the last country to leave the European Union, there were an array of responses from the German side. Mr. Trump also said that Ms. Merkel would be a problematic ally and accused her of being responsible for the refugee crisis. He also threatened German automakers like BMW with his 35 percent tariff impose.

German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said that while protectionist policies can be beneficial in the short term, they are almost always damaging in the long run. German economy minister Sigmar Gabriel retaliated saying that there is a link between America’s flawed interventionist policies like Iraq war and the refugee crisis in Europe, so one should be careful in blaming someone and America needs to build better cars if it wants to sell in Germany.

Angela Merkel, in an industrial event, called on the German corporates to have trust in the German government, especially during the upcoming negotiations with Britain and retaliated against Trump by commenting that she remains committed to free trade. She also said “We can’t let anyone (possibly referring to Trump) divide us (possibly referring to the European Union)”