His “retraction, per tweet, is … disillusioning and depressing,” Merkel told German talkshow host Anne Will | Zick Jochen-Pool/Getty Images Angela Merkel on Trump’s G7 show: It’s ‘depressing’ ‘We don’t let ourselves be taken advantage of again and again,’ chancellor says.

BERLIN — At the end of a long weekend of rhetorical salvos over the G7 summit’s chaotic ending, German Chancellor Angela Merkel added her voice to the chorus, saying she found Donald Trump’s actions “sobering and a bit depressing,” while calling for more civility in international exchanges.

“The situation isn’t very nice,” Merkel told German public television in a lengthy interview. “I don’t think that ratcheting up the rhetoric is going to improve things.”

While Merkel, who has been frustrated over the past year by Trump's decision to withdraw from international agreements including the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate accord, said she intends to engage the president, she voiced a deepening disappointment over her failure to win him over to her point of view.

“Sometimes I get the impression that the U.S. president believes that only one side wins and the other loses,” Merkel said, adding that she believes in “win-win” situations.

Her comments, which echo those of France’s Emmanuel Macron and others, highlight a growing transatlantic estrangement that Europe insists it doesn’t want but has been powerless to stop.

Merkel’s comments followed Trump’s abrupt decision via Twitter early Sunday to cancel his support for the just-agreed G7 communiqué, apparently out of anger over comments made by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a press conference.

Trump’s tweets triggered a bizarre string of appearances by his surrogates on American television. Top Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Trudeau “stabbed us in the back,” suggesting that the Canadian leader’s criticism of Trump’s trade policies undermined the president before his summit meeting with North Korea.

Peter Navarro, another top counselor, abandoned any semblance of decorum, suggesting “there is a special place in hell” for Trudeau.

The latter comment prompted European Council President Donald Tusk to quip “there is a special place in heaven” for Trudeau for his organization of the G7.

Merkel said that despite the tensions at the summit’s conclusion, she remains committed to the transatlantic relationship, while sounding a note of caution.

“There are good reasons on our side to continue to fight for it but we can’t count on it anymore,” she said.

Asked why she allowed Trump to run rings around her, Merkel pointed to the EU’s retaliatory tariffs and said, “We don’t let ourselves be taken advantage of again and again."

Merkel said she is open to Trump's idea of eliminating tariffs between G7 members, but that such a goal would require intense negotiations and "take a long time."

Getting defensive

Merkel suggested the tensions with Washington would continue to fuel a reappraisal of Europe’s security needs. For the Continent to succeed in becoming less dependent on the U.S., European countries would have to become “more loyal” to the EU, which has to develop “its own strategic culture.”

In that regard, she pledged to spend more on defense. The U.S. has long criticized Germany for its meager defense budget, which stood at about 1.1 percent of GDP in 2017, well below NATO’s 2 percent target. Trump has raised the issue most forcefully, however, regularly taking Berlin to task over the military budget and Merkel said he “had a point.”

She said that even though such spending is unpopular with Germans, it is necessary, suggesting she would make a harder push to accelerate spending in the coming years.

On the current trajectory, Berlin’s defense budget is expected to hit 1.5 percent of GDP in 2025 and 2 percent by 2030. Under an agreement reached among NATO countries in 2014, members pledged to reach the 2 percent goal by 2024.

Nein to a G8

Merkel also said she doesn’t support Trump’s suggestion that Russia rejoin the G7. While Russia is an important interlocutor when it comes to security questions in Europe and the Middle East, there’s no justification for it to join the forum, the chancellor said, adding she “wasn’t convinced” by Trump’s arguments.

Merkel said she is disappointed that Italy’s new prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, endorsed Trump’s call on Russia before consulting with other European powers.

“If we want Europe to appear strong, then we have to find compromises amongst ourselves,” she said in a swipe at Italy’s new populist government.

In the wide-ranging interview, Merkel repeated her support for a European asylum system, saying she is counting on Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz to make headway on the proposal during his country’s EU presidency, which begins in July.

She also defended her own government’s handling of the administration of refugee cases. A series of recent revelations exposed deep problems in the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, going back several years. Merkel took responsibility for the problems and pledged to get the situation under control. She said her goal is to restore public trust in her government’s ability to manage the refugee influx, which she acknowledged has been “damaged.”