Europe "must take its fate into its own hands" in the face of a western alliance divided by Brexit and Donald Trump's presidency, Angela Merkel has said.

Speaking at a campaign event held in a Bavarian beer tent in Munich, the German Chancellor said: "The times in which we could completely depend on others are on the way out. I've experienced that in the last few days."

"We Europeans truly have to take our fate into our own hands," she added.

Mrs Merkel said that while Germany and Europe would try to remain on good terms with the US and Britain, "we have to fight for our own destiny".

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She told the crowd in the southern German city that special emphasis needed to be placed on warm relations between Germany and the newly-elected French President Emmanuel Macron.


Mrs Merkel has just returned from a G7 summit which wound up on Saturday without a deal between the US and the other six major advanced nations on upholding the Paris climate change agreement.

She said on Saturday that the result of the "six against one" discussion was "very difficult, not to say very unsatisfactory".

Mr Trump offered a more positive assessment on Twitter on Sunday, writing: "Just returned from Europe. Trip was a great success for America. Hard work but big results!"

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He earlier tweeted that he would reveal whether or not Washington will stick to the global emissions deal, which he pledged to withdraw the US from during his victorious campaign, next week.

The G7 summit was part of Mr Trump's first foreign trip as president, during which he repeated past criticism of NATO allies for failing to meet the alliance's military spending commitment of 2% of GDP.

Observers also noted that he did not endorse the pact's Article Five, which guarantees that member countries will aid others if they are attacked.

Mr Trump also reportedly described German trade practices as "bad, very bad", complaining that Europe's largest economy sells too many cars to the US.