The leak to the media of a diplomatic cable from the German ambassador in Washington, very critical of Donald Trump, sparked controversy on Sunday January 19 on the eve of the inauguration of the president-elect, whose wrath Berlin already fears .
In this confidential internal note, with a particularly alarmist tone, addressed to his supervisory minister and published Sunday by the daily BildAndreas Michaelis is worried about seeing the foundations of American democracy undermined after the inauguration of Joe Biden’s successor. He speaks of the president-elect’s “revenge plans” and denounces his “strategy of maximum disruption” aimed at “redefining the constitutional order” in the United States. The diplomat says he is concerned by the prospect of a “maximum concentration of powers in the president at the expense of Congress and the federal states”, as well as by the promise made to the tech giants to “participate in the government”.
The head of German diplomacy Annalena Baerbock, recipient of the note, confirmed its reality, while emphasizing that it was classified “secret” and should have remained so. “Of course embassies write reports, it’s their mission, particularly during changes of government to know what we’re up to. And naturally our embassy in Washington does it too,” she said in the evening on public television, questioned on the subject.
“And the American president had already announced what he intended to do, in particular with regard to the decisions that will be taken in the future by the White House alone and the interventions in the field of justice and law. And we must of course prepare for it,” the minister tried to downplay.
“Nonsense about the president-elect”
The leak of this diplomatic cable comes at a bad time: it is precisely the ambassador in Washington who will represent the German government on Monday at the inauguration of Donald Trump. “Berlin is making a fool of itself before the change of power in the United States,” writes the daily Cologne Rundschau.
For the former German ambassador to Washington, and ex-director of the Munich Security Conference, Wolfgang Ischinger, “the leak is in the current situation unfortunately toxic” and “anything but welcome” because it risks robbing the new American government.
The leader of the German conservative opposition, Friedrich Merz, favorite in the polls for the chancellorship with a view to the next elections at the end of February, was also moved by “the publication of a comment from a German embassy full of criticism of all kinds and nonsense about the American president-elect”. “The American president and his government do not need Germany to point the finger at them,” he added during an election rally.
Towards a trade war?
Friedrich Merz is already trying to position himself as a privileged interlocutor for the new American administration and has been multiplying his opening messages for several days. He thus stands out from the social democratic chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is more critical, in particular towards the billionaire Elon Musk, close to Donald Trump, whom he accused of threatening democracy through his support for European far-right parties.
It will be necessary “to work well with each American government but the first signs we have are not encouraging”, also insisted on Sunday in the daily Bild the co-chairman of Olaf Scholz’s social democratic party, Lars Klingbeil. “We are reaching out to Donald Trump” but “it must be clear, if he refuses it we will have to be strong and defend our interests,” he added.
Germany fears being on the front line of trade war threats from the new American administration, at a time when Europe’s largest economy is already in recession. Customs duties played “a central role in Donald Trump’s communication” and it is therefore “very likely that a trade war will break out”, warned Sunday a German director of the European Central Bank, Isabel Schnabel.