Scholz vows strong US ties, support for Ukraine

Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz, mired in a government crisis, on Wednesday pledged to keep strengthening US ties after Donald Trump’s election win and to maintain support for war-torn Ukraine.

Speaking in parliament, the center-left leader gave a spirited defense of his government’s record and pointed to the path ahead as he faces snap elections set for February 23.

Scholz’s three-party coalition imploded a week ago, on the same day that Trump was re-elected to the White House, and at a time when Europe’s largest economy faces serious headwinds.

Scholz said he had a “good conversation” with Trump three days earlier and stressed that German-US relations “have been the foundation of our country’s success for decades.”

“We should do everything we can in the coming decades, regardless of who is in power here or there, to ensure that this relationship continues to develop well,” Scholz said.

Trump’s election victory has cast doubt on the level of future US support for Ukraine, now in its third winter of war as it fights back against Russia.

Scholz, whose government has been the second largest supplier of military aid to Kyiv after Washington, pledged that German support will not stop.

“We have a responsibility to ensure that (Ukraine) won’t be left alone,” he said, adding that Kyiv “can rely on our country and our solidarity.”

He said it was equally important that “we do everything we can to ensure that this war does not escalate any further and that we do not become a party to the war.”