Episode 134: Europe’s Strategic Dependencies

What this episode covers

The dynamics of the transatlantic relationship are changing. As Europe faces the changing policies of the United States toward its alliances, Germany is investing in its armed forces at a historic rate and working to rebalance NATO’s burden-sharing. Die Zeit’s foreign editor Anna Sauerbrey joins this episode of The Zeitgeist to discuss how the Trump administration’s “America First” policies are reshaping the German and European approaches to security and economic policy and Germans’ evolving view of the country’s place in the world. Host Jeff Rathke, President, AGI Guest Anna Sauerbrey, Foreign Editor, Die Zeit Transcript  Jeff Rathke  I’m very pleased to have our listeners back with us for this episode of The Zeitgeist. And I’m also especially pleased to welcome our guest, Anna Sauerbrey. Anna, welcome.  Anna Sauerbrey  Hello, good to be here.  Jeff Rathke   Dr. Anna Sauerbrey is the foreign editor of Die Zeit, one of Germany’s leading papers. She previously was deputy editor-in-chief of the Tagesspiegel, a Berlin-based paper, and has been a foreign affairs writer for many years. Going back further, she was also a guest journalist at the Philadelphia Inquirer. Was that a few years ago, Anna?   Anna Sauerbrey  That’s actually 11 years ago.  Jeff Rathke  So someone who has spent time in the United States in a journalistic capacity, among other things. We are speaking on the 17th of September. And Anna, you are joining us from Utah. Is that correct?  Anna Sauerbrey  Yes, I have been reporting from Orem, Utah, where Charlie Kirk was assassinated one week ago today. And I will go on to Phoenix next to report on the funeral and the memorial service the Trump administration is holding for him there down there.  Jeff Rathke  Anna is in the midst of a longer journalistic trip through the United States, but she is based in Berlin. I thought it would be interesting to take the opportunity of her presence here to bridge two questions: what is interesting in the United States for German readership and policymakers, and how the United States factors into German policymaking these days and what are the trends we can observe. That’s what we had in mind.   If I start from 2022, Chancellor Scholz, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, announced a sea change in Germany’s foreign policy, including massive reinvestment in defense and shifting the burden sharing within NATO back in the direction of Europe. That has intensified since the election of Donald Trump, the start of the second Trump second term, and the election of Friedrich Merz as chancellor earlier this year. As we see Germany and Chancellor Merz trying to create a workable relationship with the Trump administration, I want to start, Anna, by asking: what are the key elements of Germany’s strategy for relations with the United States as you observe them?  Anna Sauerbrey  Looking at the time since Trump took office for the second time in January, I would say that after a brief period of shock—like a deer gazing into the headlights—European leaders, and they have been coordinating very closely on this under the leadership of Friedrich Merz, have adopted a strategy of buying time. We saw that from the Munich Security Conference in February, which was the initial shock moment, up to the NATO summit, where every European leader traveled to the United States and flattered Donald Trump to an extent that many, particularly when it comes to NATO chief Mark Rutte, many thought was embarrassing. There’s a German term, Fremdscham. I don’t know, Jeff, whether you have a good word for that in English—when you feel embarrassed for somebody else.  Jeff Rathke