Trump, Macron set aside dispute
Presidents say they won’t let climate-change differences disrupt countries’ friendship
PARIS— U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron set aside lingering differences on climate change during their meeting in France on Thursday, asserting that it shouldn’t prevent them from working together toward a postwar road map for Syria and to enhance Mideast security.
Trump, standing alongside Macron at a news conference, said the two nations have “occasional disagreements” but that would not disrupt a friendship that dates back to the American Revolution. He remained noncommittal about the United States eventually rejoining the global climate agreement that bears Paris’s name, telling Macron, “if it happens that will be wonderful, and if it doesn’t that will be OK too.”
Macron acknowledged sharp differences on the Paris climate pact but said the two leaders could find other areas of co-operation. “Should that have an impact on the discussions we’re having on all other topics? No, absolutely not,” he said.
Trump arrived in the French capital on Thursday for a whirlwind, 36hour visit to meet with Macron and tackle potential solutions to the crisis in Syria and discuss broader counterterrorism strategies before being feted at Bastille Day celebra- tions Friday.
The president landed in Paris amid questions about emails showing that his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., welcomed the prospect of receiving Russian government support in last year’s presidential campaign between his father and Hillary Clinton.
Trump defended his namesake, saying that “most people would have taken that meeting,” a message that contradicted his incoming FBI director’s testimony that Donald Trump Jr. should have instead alerted authorities.
Topics like resolving the years-long civil war in Syria and countering terrorism gave Trump and Macron areas to co-operate. The two said they also discussed the security situations in Ukraine and Libya.
Macron said he discussed with Trump a road map for Syria that would help stabilize the situation after the war ends. He has argued for intervention in Syria, saying that President Bashar Assad is a threat to the war-ravaged country and Daesh, also known as ISIS, is a threat to France.
France has been plagued in recent years by extremist attacks and Trump noted that during last year’s Bastille Day celebrations, a 19-tonne cargo truck deliberately plowed into crowds in Nice, killing more than 80 people.
While the U.S. has split with the major world powers on the environment, the two leaders tried to patch over those differences.
Trump has said the climate deal was unfair to the U.S. but said the country was committed to protecting the environment despite his recent withdrawal decision.
Macron, a staunch advocate of research to combat global warming, has beckoned “all responsible citizens,” including American scientists and researchers, to bring their fight against climate change to France.
Trump and Macron spent several hours together Thursday in some of Paris’s most opulent settings, with a visit to the golden-domed Invalides monument followed by meetings at the presidential palace. The visit was cast by the White House as a commemoration of the U.S.-French military alliance. The leaders and their wives capped Thursday with a lavish dinner at the Jules Verne restaurant in the Eiffel Tower.
All of which put Trump in the awkward position of being feted in a city he has repeatedly disparaged. When he announced his decision on the climate agreement, Trump said he was “elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.” And he has frequently said in the past that the city has been ruined by the threat of terrorism, which he ties to immigrants.
“Paris isn’t Paris any longer,” he said in February. Asked about those comments, Trump called Paris “one of the great cities, one of the most beautiful cities in the world” and heaped praise on the recently elected Macron, telling reporters, “You have a great leader now, you have a great president.”