Page "Politics of Germany" Paragraph 49

The governments of Germany and the United States are close political allies.

The 1948 Marshall Plan and strong cultural ties have crafted a strong bond between the two countries, although Schröder's very vocal opposition to the Iraq War suggested the end of Atlanticism and a relative cooling of German-American relations.

The two countries are also economically interdependent: 8. 8 % of German exports are U. S .- bound and 6. 6 % of German imports originate from the U. S. Other signs of the close ties include the continuing position of German-Americans as the largest ethnic group in the U. S. and the status of Ramstein Air Base ( near Kaiserslautern ) as the largest U. S. military community outside the U. S.