MUNICH ��Vice President Mike Pence offered reassurances to Europe on the new administration's commitment to its trans-Atlantic allies but his first speech on the world stage did not hide glaring policy divisions that remain.
An audience at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday heard Pence say President Donald Trump was "unwavering" in his commitment to Europe and NATO, while pledging to "hold Russia accountable." His message on raising defense spending was less well received.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who spoke immediately before Pence, also delivered a rebuttal of recent U.S. accusations that Germany benefits from an unfair trade advantage and made the case to improve international institutions that have underpinned the global order to safeguard them, in a warning against pursuing protectionism.
"No nation can resolve the world's problems alone," she said.
The speeches followed by a meeting between Pence and Merkel were the highest level contact to date between the Trump administration and the leader of Europe's biggest economy. It came during widespread anxiety among U.S. allies over Trump's "America First" stance that threatens to upend decades of trans-Atlantic cooperation.
"Today, on behalf of President Trump, I bring you this assurance,'' Pence said in his address to the audience of diplomats, political leaders and security officials. "The United States of America strongly supports NATO and will be unwavering in our commitment to our trans-Atlantic alliance."
While the U.S. "will remain your greatest ally," Pence pointed out that currently the U.S. accounts for about 70 percent of NATO's overall defense apwnsinf, that only four other NATO members meet its target to spend at least 2 percent of their gross domestic product on security.
Trump "expects our allies to keep their word" and "for most that means the time has come to do more," Pence said.
Earlier, Merkel said during a question-and-answer session that Germany has raised spending by 8 percent year on year as it strives to meet the goal. She added, however, that "you can't really do more than that if you want to absorb it, and not simply argue with numbers, but rather with capabilities."
"I hope that we don't fall into a fight on whether defense can only be secured by increasing your defense spending," she said, adding that development aid should also be taken into consideration.
Merkel further grasped the opportunity to address U.S. criticism of her government policy, tackling head-on comments by Peter Navarro, the head of Trump's National Trade Council, blasting Germany for benefiting from a "grossly undervalued" single currency. European Central Bank policy isn't oriented toward robust growth in the region's largest economy, but "to nations from Portugal to Slovenia or Slovakia," she said.
"If we still had the deutsche mark, it would be valuated differently than the euro is currently," Merkel said. "But that's an independent monetary policy over which I as chancellor have zero influence."
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(Nick Wadhams and Ilya Arkhipov contributed to this report.)
