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Rift between Trump-era US and Europe laid bare at security talks

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MUNICH: The US and European powers voiced sharply differing views on issues from Middle-east security to trade on Saturday, laying bare a deep trans-Atlantic rift in the era of US President Donald Trump.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other European leaders at the Munich Security Conference voiced dismay at a range of Trump decisions deemed hostile to the US' Nato allies.

In an awkward moment last Friday, US Vice-President Mike Pence said he was bringing greetings from Mr Trump, only to be met with silence from a room of national leaders, ministers and generals.

Dr Merkel said a looming new shot expected in a trade war - Washington readying to declare European car imports a "national security threat" - was "frightening".

Especially since Mr Trump's announcement he would pull US troops out of Syria has left allies confused.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian - whose country contributes about 1,200 troops in the region - asked why the US would create a power vacuum that could benefit its declared enemy Iran, calling it a "mystery".

A French government source criticised the Trump administration's approach as "we're leaving, you're staying", and added: "They're trying to manage the consequences of a hasty decision and making us carry the responsibility."

In his main speech on Saturday, Mr Pence delivered more stern advice. He reiterated Washington's contention that Iran was planning a new "holocaust" and told European powers to scrap the 2015 nuclear agreement with Teheran that Mr Trump ripped up last year.

OPEN CONFRONTATION

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said that without the pact, "the region will not be safer and would actually be one step closer to an open confrontation".

There was also spirited pushback from Dr Merkel.

On trade, she said that in Germany "we are proud of our cars" and explained the biggest plant of brand BMW was in South Carolina, from where it exports vehicles to China.

"All I can say is it would be good if we could resume proper talks with one another," she said. - AFP

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