Berlin Braces Itself for President Trump

By Almut Möller

Almut Möller joined ECFR in October 2015 to head the Berlin office together with Josef Janning.  Before joining ECFR she led the Europe programme at the German Council on Foreign Relations (2010-2015). Almut is a member of the extended board of Women in International Security (WIIS.de) as well as a member of the 14th Advisory Board on the Internal Leadership concept ("Innere Führung") of the German Federal Ministry of Defence.

9 November is a historic day for Germans. In 1989, the Berlin Wall came crashing down on that day, and in 1938, pogroms across the Deutsches Reich became the starting point of the systematic persecution of European Jews. Both 1989 and 1938 are also strongly linked to German-U.S. history, and the formative role that the U.S. has played in shaping post-war Europe. The United States played a leading role in liberating Germany from the Nazi dictatorship, and in the aftermath of 1989, helped bring about a European order that Germany, until now, has benefitted from greatly.  

As Berliners woke to the news that Donald Trump had made it into the White House, there was a sense that yet another chapter is opening for Europe on this historic day. But this time, there is a feeling that it won’t be a chapter of partnership, but one of unpredictability. It is a new chapter in which the decades-old foundation of the transatlantic relationship – shared values – may be called into question.  

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