TEHRAN (Tasnim) – US President Donald Trump tweeted criticism of Germany on Tuesday in an apparent response to recent remarks by Angela Merkel, stating the European country was not meeting its NATO defense obligations.

Trump, who criticized NATO countries last week for not paying their fair share of gross domestic product toward defense, also commented on a “massive” trade deficit with Germany, The Washington Free Beacon reported.

“We have a MASSIVE trade deficit with Germany, plus they pay FAR LESS than they should on NATO & military. Very bad for U.S. This will change,” he wrote.

On Sunday, Merkel said at a rally in Bavaria that Europeans must “take our destiny into our own hands.” Coming after summits with Trump at the G-7 meeting in Italy and the NATO summit in Belgium, the comments were interpreted as her stating that the US leadership role in the world had been diminished under Trump.

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