Brookings-Robert Bosch Foundation Transatlantic Initiative

A lot of the key issues are still open, but [the meeting between Trump and Merkel was] not the full-blown disaster that some people feared...It also showed Merkel's ability to keep her cool in what seems like a really losing situation and come back with something where she's actually regained ground — or so it seems — in terms of a relationship that looked bad and unsalvageable.

While expectations in Paris and Berlin are really low for a breakthrough on either the Iran deal or averting the steel and aluminum tariffs both [President Trump and Chancellor Merkel] felt the effort was still important to take...I think at this point a sense of realism has set in on both sides, and a determination to do whatever is possible to keep the relationship afloat because the stakes are so big.

Das deutsch-amerikanische Verhältnis ist an einem Tiefpunkt angelangt.

German foreign policy seems overwhelmed by the tensions at home, in Europe and beyond...Mr. Macron has so far been the most adept in Europe at reacting to the Trump phenomenon.

There are obvious German vulnerabilities which are our own fault...We have been freeriding on US security for a long time now, and we could have done something to address that.

[Angela Merkel] is a cool and rational person, and has a wicked sense of humor...She does have this natural warmth and she does display that in private conversation. For all we know, she might be able to win [Donald Trump] over.