Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday she was right to say a year ago that Europe could no longer rely on the United States to impose order on the world, and that it needed to take matters close to home into its own hands.
"We can't rely on the superpower of the United States," Merkel told a news conference in Berlin.
Merkel welcomed U.S. President Donald Trump's invitation to Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet in Washington this autumn.
"I think it should become normal again for Russia and American presidents to meet," Merkel told a news conference in Berlin.
On transatlantic ties, she said history showed Europe and the United States had been at odds many times "but it is always worth resolving these conflicts."