Notice finally who will be judging whom. The “offer” functions as an implied threat: If Donald Trump fails to meet the values-standard defined and assessed by Angela Merkel, the “offer” will be withdrawn.
It’s quite a thing for a German chancellor to impose conditions on the U.S.-Germany relationship. During the Cold War, West Germany depended on the United States for security against the Soviet Union. In the fateful years 1989-1991, American policy enabled German reunification despite the qualms of other close U.S. allies, France and Britain. (A Frenchman, Francois Mauriac, is credited with the quip, “I love Germany so much, I am glad there are two of them.”) But since 1991, Germany has not needed the United States so much—and Germans have felt freer to express old resentments of their former protector.