The US and Germany will stand together against Russian aggression, President Joe Biden said as he welcomed outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel to Washington.
Mr Biden said he had voiced concern to Mrs Merkel over a Russia-to-Germany gas pipeline, but they agreed Moscow can’t be allowed to use energy as a weapon.
The US president said the 2 allies also opposed anti-democratic actions by China.
Mrs Merkel, who has worked with four US presidents, is leaving office.
“We stand together and can still stand together to defend our eastern flank allies at Nato against Russian aggression,” Mr Biden told Thursday’s joint press conference with Mrs Merkel.
He acknowledged the 2 didn’t see eye to eye on the nearly complete $11bn (£8bn) Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The White House has said it’ll be employed by Russia as leverage over Ukraine and other neighbours.
“Good friends can disagree,” said Mr Biden, who recently waived sanctions against Nord Stream 2.
The US president also said: “We will get up for democratic principles and human rights once we see China or the other country working to undermine free and open societies.”
Despite being strong trade partners, Berlin has sometimes been critical of Beijing on the difficulty of human rights.
Mr Biden also told reporters the US had no plans “at the moment” to send troops to Haiti amid growing unrest after the assassination of its president.
Asked about ongoing protests in Cuba, Mr Biden said the “failed state” was repressing its citizens.
“Communism may be a failed system, a universally failed system,” he said. “And i do not see socialism as a really useful substitute.”
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Both leaders emphasised the amicable nature of their hour-long meeting, with Mrs Merkel referring quite once to her host as “Dear Joe”.
Mr Biden told his guest: “I will miss seeing you at our summits.”
Mrs Merkel expressed “sympathy” for the handfuls of individuals killed by heavy flooding back range in Germany.
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The German leader had a frosty relationship with Mr Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, and occasional tension, too, with George W Bush and Barack Obama, the opposite two presidents her tenure has spanned.
Mrs Merkel, who became chancellor in 2005, isn’t running again in September’s elections. Her Christian Democratic Union leads opinion polls.
