German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel has criticized leading U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as a right-wing populist whose political views pose a threat to peace and prosperity.
The comments by Gabriel, economy minister and leader of the Social Democrats, are the clearest sign yet that ruling politicians in Europe are increasingly worried about the outcome of the U.S. presidential elections.
"Whether Donald Trump, Marine le Pen or Geert Wilders - all these right-wing populists are not only a threat to peace and social cohesion, but also to economic development," Gabriel told Welt am Sonntag newspaper in an interview published on Sunday.
Gabriel said that Trump and France's Le Pen were promising voters "a way back into a fairytale world" in which economic activity only happened within national borders but that history has shown such isolated economies have no chance to develop.