German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe spoke up for free trade at a major technology fair over the weekend, issuing jabs clearly pointed at an increasingly protectionist United States.
Both called for a free trade deal to be reached quickly between Japan and the European Union, in comments made after G-20 finance ministers and central bankers dropped a long-standing mention of open trade in their final communique after a two-day meeting in Germany.
Neither leader named the U.S. government as they opened the CeBIT technology fair in Hanover on Sunday, but both used the opportunity to distance themselves from protectionist tendencies coming from the Trump administration.