German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel has described the future under US President Donald Trump as a “rough ride” in the first official reaction to his inauguration.

“I think we have to prepare for a rough ride,” Gabriel said in an interview with the public broadcaster ZDF, noting that Trump’s election was the result of “a bad radicalization.”

The leader of the left-leaning Social Democrats (SPD), coalition partners of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling conservatives, also ruled out suggestions that Trump may not pursue some controversial pledges, such as imposing heavy tariffs on the imports of Mexican-made cars. . . Gabriel said the European Union and Germany must stand together “to defend our interests” in the face of this nationalistic fervor.

He also called for a new economic strategy geared toward Asia that defend the interests of Berlin and the EU if the new US administration launches a trade war with China as he warned against protectionism.