Trans-atlantic

Twenty-four years after its reunification, Germany has become America’s most valuable European partner, says Annette Heuser, executive director and founder of the Bertelsmann Foundation, the Washington-based arm of a German-based organization promoting trans-Atlantic ties.

It also would cut deeply into the trans-Atlantic alliance at the worst possible time by giving anti-American, anti-capitalist nationalists and protectionists in Europe a platform to thrive. Anti-American sentiment will grow, and Europe risks a retreat to protectionism. Those of us who make the case for the trans-Atlantic alliance will have a much harder job.