Summary
In a long column on how Europe should respond to U.S. policy under President Donald Trump, Heiko Maas, a member of Merkel's junior Social Democrat coalition partners, suggested that Europe needs its own payments system, independent of the United States.
Maas wrote it was essential that Europe strengthen its autonomy by creating independent payment channels, a European Monetary Fund and an independent SWIFT system -- a global network that facilitates many of the world's cross-border transactions.
A spokeswoman for the foreign ministry said the article by Maas in the Handelsblatt daily was intended to provoke debate on relations with Washington, including how European powers can keep the nuclear deal with Iran alive after the U.S. pullout.
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