BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel is marking the 70th anniversary of the launch of the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe, remarking pointedly that the U.S. embrace of open markets served America’s own interests.
Then-Secretary of State George C. Marshall outlined an aid plan for post-World War II Europe in a 1947 speech at Harvard University that kicked off what became known as the Marshall Plan.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, speaking alongside Merkel on Wednesday, said that Marshall’s speech “proclaimed above all the end of American isolationism.”
The anniversary comes amid concern in Europe and elsewhere about President Donald Trump’s “America first” approach.
Merkel didn’t directly mention Trump or his administration, but stressed the importance of balancing interests and trying to create “win-win situations.”