US President Barack Obama on Tuesday spoke to German Chancellor Angela Merkel for the first time since a row over US spying prompted Germany to turf out the CIA station head in Berlin.
The White House gave away little of the conversation about the latest espionage scandal to rock the crucial relationship between the US president and Europe’s most powerful leader.
A statement said that Obama and Merkel “exchanged views on US-German intelligence cooperation, and the president said he’d remain in close communication on ways to improve cooperation going forward.”
Obama and Merkel have forged a firm working relationship, but successive revelations about US spying and surveillance have strained US-German ties and put the German leader under intense political pressure at home.
The call came on the eve of a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels, which is to consider toughening sanctions on Russia over what the West sees as destabilizing behavior in Ukraine.
The statement said neither leader had seen Russia take steps to stem the flow of weapons across the border of eastern Ukraine, or steps by Moscow to de-escalate the situation or to persuade separatists to lay down their arms.
Washington signaled on Tuesday that it would consider going ahead with its own new measures against Moscow should Europe remain reluctant to move forward.
EU ACTION?
Meanwhile, a source in Brussels told reporters yesterday that it was possible that the EU could decide to toughen measures against Moscow.
Reports that two German government employees were being investigated amid claims they were double agents for the CIA rattled US-German relations, which had barely recovered from claims that the US National Security Agency (NSA) had tapped Merkel’s cellphone.
The row over espionage first erupted last year over revelations by former CIA contractor Edward Snowden that the NSA was conducting massive Internet and telephone data sweeps, including in Germany.
KERRY ATTEMPT
US Secretary of State John Kerry made the first attempt by the US administration to improve ties with Germany on Sunday in talks with German Minister of Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Vienna.
Kerry said that the transatlantic allies remained “great friends.”
Steinmeier said that Germany wanted a revived partnership with Washington based on “trust” and mutual confidence.
However, the US intelligence community has rejected such a deal for Germany, fearing it could set a precedent for other nations.
The White House statement also said that Obama and Merkel discussed Iran nuclear talks in Vienna, amid signs the negotiations between Tehran and world powers will be extended beyond a Sunday deadline.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
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