U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (right) shakes hands with German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel (left) at the State Department on May 17, 2017 in Washington, D.C. | Alex Wong/Getty Images Germany’s Gabriel to US: Don’t let Russia distract you Foreign minister pushes back against Trump on trade surplus and defense spending.

WASHINGTON — German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel avoided directly weighing in on the Russia turmoil enveloping the White House at an event in Washington on Thursday, but said he hoped the United States can “overcome the difficulties.”

“We need a stable and internationally engaged U.S. administration. I mean, you are citizens of a real superpower, and if America is too much engaged with its interior problems, there will be a vacuum in the international sphere,” Gabriel said at a Center for Strategic & International Studies event marking the 70th anniversary of the Marshall Plan.

At the same time, he said, Europe needs to take on more responsibility globally — a position he insisted has “nothing to do” with the Trump administration’s “America First” stance.

“Our decisions — what to do, how to be stronger, how to be more integrated — have nothing to do with the American position,” Gabriel said. “It’s in our interest. Hopefully we will find common interest between the U.S. and us because then we are stronger, but the reform process in European Union is up to us.”

Gabriel also pushed back against President Donald Trump’s recent criticism of the German trade surplus.

“We are prepared to have a dialogue on this — we will gladly explain how we see the connection of our economies. Many of the best and highest-paid manufacturing jobs in the entire United States are created thanks to the investments of German corporations,” Gabriel said.

The German foreign minister also gently rebuffed another Trump complaint, saying that investing more in defense is “necessary… but we should not overestimate [how much is] necessary.”

Meanwhile, he said, the U.S. and Europe should “work together” to address a “common problem: Our societies, whether in Europe or the United States, are becoming increasingly polarized internally. That is not good for many reasons, it’s also dangerous for the transatlantic partnership.”

Leaders on both sides of the Atlantic need to do a better job of addressing the conditions that give rise to populism, Gabriel added.

“First of all, we should not lean back now that Emmanuel Macron has won the election in France,” he said. "It’s not over.”