berlin u.s. president donald trump call germany trade spend policies bad tuesday intensify row longtime ally immediately earn moniker destroyer western value lead german politician war word threaten spin control merkel senior german politicians stress importance germany atlantic tie foreign minister sigmar gabriel suggest spat rough patch trump take twitter early day unite state attack germany day chancellor angela merkel ramp doubt reliability washington ally massive trade deficit germany plus pay far less nato military bad u.s. change trump tweet tit-for-tat dispute escalate rapidly trump back-to-back summit last week criticize major nato ally military spend refuse endorse global climate change accord sunday merkel show gravity concern washington dependability trump warn election campaign event pack bavarian beer tent time europe could fully rely others certain extent comment cause shock washington vent europe frustration trump climate policy particular german politicians side merkel foreign minister sigmar gabriel signal time cool head prevail tit-for-tat tent twitter unite state old big current conflict say add relations would improve inappropriate communicate beer tent twitter say berlin merkel already begin fin message monday stress convince trans-atlanticist message repeat meet visit indian prime minister narendra modi berlin martin schulz leader gabriel center-left social democrats less emollient early day tell reporters trump destroyer western value add u.s. president undermine peaceful cooperation nations base mutual respect tolerance rome italian prime minister paolo gentiloni say agree merkel europe need forge path take nothing away importance trans-atlantic tie alliance unite state importance put tie mean abandon fundamental principles commitment fight climate change favor open societies free trade say merkel minister stress u.s. tie critical trump tweet