No ordinary double date
Trumps, Macrons at Mount Vernon
With Iran and a list of other tough issues awaiting them, President Donald Trump and France’s Emmanuel Macron are starting off the French president’s three-day visit with an anything-but-ordinary double date with their wives at George Washington’s house.
The presidents and their spouses will get together for a private dinner at Mount Vernon, Washington’s historic riverside home, one night before the two leaders sit down for talks on matters including security, trade and the Iran nuclear deal.
Trump has been itching to pull out of the multinational nuclear agreement as a May 12 deadline nears. Macron says he is not satisfied with the situation in Iran and thinks the agreement is imperfect, but has argued for the U.S. sticking with the deal on the grounds that there is not yet a “Plan B.”
The private dinner kicks off a pageantry-filled visit to Washington for Macron, the honoured guest at today’s first state dinner of the Trump administration.
The couples were to plant a tree on the White House grounds before boarding Trump’s Marine One helicopter for a scenic tour of monuments built in a city designed by a French-born engineer as they fly south to Mount Vernon, the first U.S. president’s home along the Potomac River.
A seat aboard Marine One is a rare presidential perk that underscores how much Trump wants to woo the first foreign leader he has invited to the U.S. on a state visit.
“This is a great honour and I think a very important state visit given the moment of our current environment,” Macron said after his plane landed at a U.S. military base near Washington.
Of everything Macron has accomplished in nearly a year as France’s president, the most important may be his tough-love friendship with Trump that began with a bone-squeezing handshake and most recently included Macron’s claim that he persuaded Trump to bomb Syria after an alleged chemical weapons attack against civilians.
Macron calls Trump often, leading some to refer to him as the “Trump Whisperer.” But Macron calculates that it’s smarter and safer to talk to the impulsive U.S. president than to isolate him.
Macron will be welcomed back to the White House today with a traditional arrival ceremony put on by nearly 500 members of the U.S. military, including a booming 21-gun salute. The state visit also offers Macron his first Oval Office sit-down with Trump and a joint White House news conference. There’s also a State Department lunch hosted by Vice-President Mike Pence.
The French president’s White House day will be capped with the state dinner, the highest social tribute a president bestows on an ally and partner.