US 'will fail if it tries to split Europe': Germany

US President Donald Trump “will not succeed” in dividing European nations against one another over trade, German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier warned on Sunday ahead of a visit to Washington.

In the European Union “we are a customs union and act collectively. It cannot be in the interest of the US government to divide Europe, nor will it succeed,” Altmaier told German business daily Handelsblatt. […]

“Companies and consumers on both sides would foot the bill if the US and Europe tumble into a trade war,” Altmaier said.

Meanwhile, countries like China that stand accused of flooding global markets with cheap steel would be “laughing on the sidelines”, he added. …

Thank you for that clarification. But with respect, it's incomplete. You imply that once the acute risk of German invasion of Britain had been averted, the British then put up the shutters and sat back while the US did the rest. When in fact the British continued to take a full and active part in the defeat of Hitler on the European mainland, right up to the final German surrender (and for that matter in the Japanese theatre also - Slim and the Burma campaign etc).

Nobody, certainly not me, is questioning that the US played the largest part in the eventual outcome. What grates is the apparent determination (and you're not alone in this among US commentators) to insist that the United States alone was responsible for the final victory, and the apparent difficulty in accepting that it was a shared achievement. And once again the Soviet/Nazi war is by implication dismissed as of no account.

Oh, and I make one apology. A brain fade made me give the wrong figure for British casualties. The military casualties were 384,000 (and let's not forget the 40,000 each from Canada and Australia, plus many others from throughout the British Commonwealth).

Excellent post and thanks for seeing my clarification.

Based on this post, I have one other. My equation never implied the US alone, saved Europe from the Germans and eventually the Soviets.

My assertion states “without” the US, the Germans would not have been defeated in Europe. The Allies were all critical in defeating the Germans. But, my assertion is that without the US, it would have been nearly impossible, if not impossible.

This considers not only the manpower but the industrial base and that contribution as well.

I’m not among, and I believe very few are, the US commentators, who claim the US solely could have saved Europe. British naval assets were critical in getting back into Europe. British and Canadian assets were critical front line units and airborne units as well.

The Soviet impact is also mammoth, but I give them little credit as they were originally with the Nazis in the war and eventual dividing up of Europe, and that evil reality is illustrated behind the Iron Curtain when the war ceases.

Thanks for the discussion. Sometimes whether it is Twitter or even a message board, points aren’t fleshed out entirely. Glad to clarify my opinion on this matter.

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